Nonvascular Plants

Liverworks are often found growing as a thick crust on moist rocks or soil growing along a stream. This group of plants is named for the shapeof the plants leaf-like gametophyte, which looks somewhat like a human liver. Liverworts have too small of sporophytes to see.

There are three major groups of nonvascular plants: mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. These low-growing plants live in moist areas where they can absorb water and other nutrients directly from their environment.

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NONVASCULAR PLANTS

Structures that look like tiny leaves with stems that grow off of rocks, cracks, on tree trunks, and in other damp, shady spots. Ther thin root like structures are called rhizoids, anchor the moss and absorb water and nutrients from the soil. The sporophyte generation grows out of the gametophyte. It consists of a slender stalk with a capsule at the end. The capsule contains spores. It cannot grow tall because it has a thin cell wall which does not provide support and because the plant has many problems from getting all of the nutrients to the other parts of the plant.

MOSSES

Liverworts

Hornworts are unlike mosses or liverworts, hornworts are seldom found on rocks or tree trunks. Instead, hornworts usually live in moist soil, often mixed in with grass plants. Hornworts are nemed for the slender, curved structures that grow out of the gametophytes. These hornlike structures are the sporophytes.

HORNWORTS