Mosses, the taxonomic division Bryophyta or the bryophytes, are small, non-vascular flowerless plants that typically form dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. The individual plants are usually composed of simple leaves that are generally only one cell thick, attached to a stem that may be branched or unbranched and has only a limited role in conducting water and nutrients. Although some species have conducting tissues, these are generally poorly developed and structurally different from similar tissue found in vascular plants. Mosses do not have seeds and after fertilisation develop sporophytes with unbranched stalks topped with single capsules containing spores. They are typically 0.2–10 cm (0.1–3.9 in) tall, though some species are much larger. Dawsonia, the tallest moss in the world, can grow to 50 cm (20 in) in height.
The Marchantiophyta are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information.
Fissidens adianthoides, the maidenhair pocketmoss, is a moss in the family of Fissidentaceaea. It was first collected by Hedwig in 1801.
Takakia is a genus of two species of mosses known from western North America and central and eastern Asia. The genus is placed as a separate family, order and class among the mosses. It has had a history of uncertain placement, but the discovery of sporophytes clearly of the moss-type firmly supports placement with the mosses.
Andreaeaceae is a family of mosses which includes two genera, Andreaea, containing about 100 species, and the genus Acroschisma. The Andreaeaceae prefer rocky habitats ranging from tropical to arctic climates, on which they form tufted colonies, typically with reddish to blackish shoots. The capsules lack the peristome mechanism and dehisce longitudinally to release the spores, resulting in a paper-lantern appearance.
The Bryopsida constitute the largest class of mosses, containing 95% of all moss species. It consists of approximately 11,500 species, common throughout the whole world.
Buxbaumia is a genus of twelve species of moss (Bryophyta). It was first named in 1742 by Albrecht von Haller and later brought into modern botanical nomenclature in 1801 by Johann Hedwig to commemorate Johann Christian Buxbaum, a German physician and botanist who discovered the moss in 1712 at the mouth of the Volga River. The moss is microscopic for most of its existence, and plants are noticeable only after they begin to produce their reproductive structures. The asymmetrical spore capsule has a distinctive shape and structure, some features of which appear to be transitional from those in primitive mosses to most modern mosses.
The Funariidae are a widespread group of mosses in class Bryopsida. The majority of species belong to the genera Funaria and Physcomitrium.
The Dicranidae are a widespread and diverse subclass of mosses in class Bryopsida, with many species of dry or disturbed areas. They are distinguished by their spores; the peristome teeth are haplolepideous with a 4:2:3 formula, and an exostome is absent.
Oedipodium is the only genus of moss in the family Oedipodiaceae. It contains the single species Oedipodium griffithianum, the gouty-moss or Griffith's oedipodium moss. This species is distributed in cooler climates of Eurasia, as well as from Alaska, Washington state, British Columbia, Yukon, Greenland, Newfoundland, Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands.
Hypnales is the botanical name of an order of Bryophyta or leafy mosses. This group is sometimes called feather mosses, referring to their freely branched stems. The order includes more than 40 families and more than 4,000 species, making them the largest order of mosses.
Neosharpiella is a genus of moss containing two species in the family Bartramiaceae. The type species, Neosharpiella aztecorum, grows in alpine regions of central Mexico, while the other species, Neosharpiella turgida, has been found in Bolivia and Ecuador.
Itatiella ulei is a species of moss in the family Polytrichaceae. It is the only species in the genus Itatiella. The Polytrichaceae is a common family of mosses that does not have close living relatives. Its small size and the inflexed leaf apex characterize Itatiella ulei. When this species grows directly exposed to sun at high elevations, it presents a similar aspect but can be distinguished based on the distal lamella cells which are single and rhombic.
Tetrodontium repandum, the small four-tooth moss, is a moss in the family Tetraphidaceae. It is one of only two recognized species in the genus Tetrodontium, and is native to subalpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It has been reported from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington state, Japan, and Europe.
Tetraphis pellucida, the pellucid four-tooth moss, is one of two species of moss in the acrocarpous genus Tetraphis. Its name refers to its four large peristome teeth found on the sporophyte capsule.
Pogonatum urnigerum is a species of moss in the family Polytrichaceae, commonly called urn haircap. The name comes from "urna" meaning "urn" and "gerere" meaning "to bear" which is believed to be a reference made towards the plant's wide-mouthed capsule. It can be found on gravelly banks or similar habitats and can be identified by the blue tinge to the overall green colour. The stem of this moss is wine red and it has rhizoids that keep the moss anchored to substrates. It is an acrocarpous moss that grows vertically with an archegonium borne at the top of each fertilized female gametophyte shoot which develops an erect sporophyte.
Pleurophascum grandiglobum is a moss endemic to Tasmania, Australia, and was first noted by S. O. Lindberg in 1875 for its peculiar form of cleistocarpous capsule, erect growth form, lateral perichaetia, and ecostate leaves. Its exceedingly large, inoperculate, and often brightly coloured capsules captured the heart of the 19th-century Scandinavian bryologist, who considered the moss to be "of no less interest to the Museologist than is Rafflesia or Welwitschia to the Phanerogamist". The species currently belongs to a monogeneric family Pleurophascaceae that is found only in temperate Australasia and includes three different species. Pleurophascum ovalifolium, heretofore known as P. grandiglobum var. decurrens, is the New Zealand taxon while the last remaining member of the genus, Pleurophascum occidentale, occurs only in Western Australia.
Seligeria cardotii is one of the two species in genus Seligeria, bryophytes of the Seligeriaceae family, in the Southern Hemisphere; an additional 19 species have been described in the Northern Hemisphere.
Orthodontiaceae is a family of mosses.
Ulota is a genus of mosses comprising 69 species with a worldwide distribution, though most species are found in the southern hemisphere.
