The classification presented here reflects main evolutionary lines. These seem best illustrated at the order level for liverworts and hornworts but at the subclass level for the taxonomically more complex mosses. Those orders that are considered to be most generalized are treated first; and those most specialized, last.

• Division Anthocerotophyta (hornworts)

  Protonema reduced to short filament or absent, differentiating the gametophore early after spore germination; rhizoids unicellular and smooth-walled; gametophore thallose, sometimes lobate; archegonium not a discrete structure, made up of an egg and neck canal cells embedded in the dorsal surface of the thallus; often several antheridia within a chamber embedded in the dorsal surface of the thallus; thallus sometimes with ventral pores, sometimes developing mucilage chambers; thallus lacking complex oil bodies; chloroplasts often solitary in each cell and often with pyrenoid; sporangium horn-shaped, usually with stomata in jacket; elaters often multicellular and often lacking helical thickenings; columella of sterile tissue extending the length of the sporangium, with the spore-bearing tissue overarching and sheathing it; sporangium indeterminate in growth from a basal meristem just above the foot; spores shed throughout the growing season by longitudinal lines of openings extending from the apex downward as the sporangium ages, sometimes (in Notothylas) by decomposition of the sporangium jacket.

  • Order Anthocerotales

    Characteristics are those of the class; widely distributed in temperate to tropical latitudes, with greatest diversity in the tropics and subtropics; containing 1 family and 6 or 7 genera.

  • Order Dendrocerotales

    Distributed primarily in tropical regions; containing 1 family with 4 genera, Dendroceros, Megaceros, Nothoceros, and Phaeomegaceros.

  • Order Notothyladales

    Consists of a single family and about 5 genera, including Notothylas.

  • Order Phymatocerotales

    Consists of a single family and a single genus (Phymatoceros) with 2 species.

• Division Bryophyta (mosses)

  Small, mostly nonvascular, archegoniate plants with a dominant, photosynthetic, free-living gametophyte; sporophyte has little or no chlorophyll and is dependent on gametophyte.

  • Class Bryopsida (or Musci; mosses)

    Protonema an extensive many-branched filament that precedes gametophore production; rhizoids multicellular, branched; gametophore leafy, with leaves spirally arranged, usually in more than 3 rows; gametophore usually not strongly flattened; sex organs usually with paraphyses among them; leaves unlobed and often with thickened midrib; cells usually lacking corner thickenings; oil bodies, if present, not complex; jacket of sporangium often with stomata; sporangium usually opening by apical cap (operculum); peristome teeth usually surrounding the sporangium mouth and influencing spore release; columella usually present, encircled or overarched by a spore-bearing layer; calyptra capping apex of elongating seta and influencing survival and differentiation of sporangium; spores generally shed over extended period; seta a rigid structure with internal conducting strand and holding sporangium well above gametophore in most instances.

    • Subclass Andreaeidae

      Sporophytes usually lacking a seta; sporangium opening by longitudinal lines; sporangium with spore-bearing layer overarching and encircling the central columella; gametophore irregularly branched, dark-pigmented, with spirally arranged leaves, attached to the substratum by rhizoids; leaves with or without midrib; paraphyses few or absent; sporophytes usually pushed beyond perichaetium on an elongate leafless extension of the gametophore (pseudopodium); mainly in cooler climates throughout the world, confined mainly to siliceous rock surfaces; 3 orders, with 1 genus in each order, Andreaea, Andreaeobryum, and Takakia, and probably fewer than 100 species in the entire subclass. Until recently, the genus Takakia (2 species) was considered a liverwort rather than a moss, and its classification remains less than perfectly understood.

    • Subclass Sphagnidae

      Sporophytes lacking a seta; subspherical sporangium opening by a lid (operculum) released explosively with the spores when sporangium dries, shrinks in diameter, and reaches high atmospheric pressure through compression of the gases within; protonema phase thalloid; branching in fascicles; leaf without midrib; leaf cells forming a network of elongate chlorophyllose cells surrounding dead swollen cells reinforced by fibril thickenings in walls and perforated by pores; sporophytes pushed beyond perichaetium by leafless extension of gametophore (pseudopodium); widely distributed in the world but forming extensive peatland mainly in boreal regions; 1 order, 1 genus, Sphagnum, with more than 160 species.

    • Subclass Tetraphidae

      Sporophytes with elongate seta; sporangium opening by an operculum exposing four multicellular peristome teeth that respond to moisture change to release spores gradually; spore layer forming a cylinder around central columella; protonema filamentous but with thallose flaps; gametophores erect, with rhizoids at base, leaves with midrib, all cells with chlorophyll; widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, with Tetrodontium also present, but rare, in the Southern Hemisphere; 1 order, 2 genera, Tetraphis and Tetrodontium, with 3 or 5 species. The family Calomniaceae (1 genus, with about 9 species) is sometimes included in this subclass.

    • Subclass Polytrichidae

      Sporophytes with elongate rigid seta containing conducting system; sporangium opening by operculum; numerous multicellular peristome teeth in a single concentric circle and overarching a membrane formed by the expanded apex of the columella (many rows of teeth and no membrane in Dawsonia); spores very small and released gradually through spaces between the teeth; spore layer forming a cylinder around central columella; gametophores erect, often with complex internal conducting system in stems and often leaves; leaves with numerous chlorophyllose elongate flaps on upper face; widely distributed throughout the world at most latitudes and altitudes, mainly terrestrial; 1 order, 19 to 23 genera, and more than 400 species.

    • Subclass Buxbaumiidae

      Sporophyte with elongate or short seta; sporangium asymmetrical, with operculum; peristome teeth sometimes in several concentric circles, the outer articulated, the inner forming a cone opened at the tip; spores released slowly when slight pressure on the sporangium surface causes the spores to puff out through the narrow mouth; gametophore sometimes extremely reduced and microscopic, always small but sometimes with leaves; widely but erratically distributed in temperate to tropical regions; 1 order, 4 genera with approximately 40 species.

    • Subclass Bryidae

      Sporophyte may have elongate seta, with or without conducting strand; sporangium diverse in form, with internal cylindric columella encircled by spore-bearing layer, usually opening by operculum to expose articulated peristome teeth in 1 or 2 concentric circles; peristome teeth pulsating in response to moisture changes, extracting the spores from the sporangium and gradually releasing them; gametophores diverse in form and structure; widely distributed throughout the world in most habitats except the sea, representing more than 95 percent of the mosses; more than 650 genera and more than 10,000 species. The classification within this subclass remains controversial, with genera variously placed in 15 or more orders.

    • Subclass Archidiidae

      Sporophyte with no seta; sporangia containing a restricted number of large spores (sometimes 4), lacking columella, opening by decomposition of the jacket; gametophore small, leaves with midrib; attached to substratum by rhizoids; of scattered distribution in temperate to subtropical climates; 1 order, a single genus, Archidium, with approximately 26 species.

• Division Marchantiophyta (liverworts)

  Protonema generally reduced to a few cells, with gametophore differentiated early after spore germination; rhizoids unicellular; gametophore leafy or thallose and generally flattened; sex organs lacking paraphyses; leaves lacking true midrib; leaf cells often with corner thickenings; complex oil bodies often in cells of gametophore; sporangium jacket lacking stomata, and often with transverse thickenings in cell walls; sporangium usually opening by longitudinal lines; sporangium releasing all spores and elaters at the time it opens; calyptra remaining at base when seta elongates.

  • Order Haplomitriales (formerly Calobryales)

    Leaves flattened and in three rows on an erect shoot arising from a colourless, subterranean, rootlike system that lacks rhizoids; sex organs lateral but near shoot apices; sporophytes with elongate seta; sporangium elongate, with elaters and thickenings on the jacket cell walls; opening by 1–4 longitudinal lines; mainly of mid-latitudes, most species in the Australasian and Indo-Malayan region; 1 extant genus, Haplomitrium.

  • Order Metzgeriales

    Thallose, with the thallus mainly of uniformly thickened cell walls, usually reclining but sometimes erect; branching varies from forked to regularly pinnate or irregular; smooth rhizoids on the undersurface; sex organs lateral; sporophytes with elongate seta; sporangia spherical to elongate, with elaters and thickenings of the jacket cell walls; opening by 1–4 longitudinal lines or irregularly; widely distributed throughout the world; approximately 30 genera and 550 species; some botanists separate the family Treubiaceae (2 genera) into the segregate order Treubiales on the basis of several unusual morphological features of the gametophytes.

  • Order Jungermanniales

    Leaves flattened, in 2 or 3 rows, usually broadened to attachment, often lobed; shoots reclining, erect, or pendent; rhizoids smooth-walled; archegonia terminating shoot, surrounded by a chlorophyllose sheath (perianth); sporophyte with seta; sporangium spherical to elongate, with elaters and thickenings of the jacket cell walls, opening by 4 longitudinal lines (rarely helical); distributed throughout the world, reaching greatest abundance in humid subtropical to temperate climates; contains at least 85 percent of the liverworts; conservatively, 300 genera and more than 7,000 species.

  • Order Sphaerocarpales

    Essentially lobate thallus in all modern representatives; thallus of parenchyma cells reclining or erect, with smooth-walled rhizoids; each sex organ surrounded by an enveloping sac, lateral; sporangium spherical, lacking seta and elaters, opening by disintegration of the unornamented jacket cells; terrestrial except the aquatic genus Riella; distributed mainly in milder temperate climates; 3 genera with approximately 20 species.

  • Order Monocleales

    Large thalli of mainly uniformly parenchymatous cells, reclining; thallus forked to irregularly branched; archegonia within a sleevelike chamber behind the lobe apex; antheridia in padlike receptacles in the same location on different thalli; sporangia elongate on a massive elongate seta, with long elaters and opening by a single longitudinal line; jacket with thickenings on cell walls; in South and Central America and New Zealand; a single genus, Monoclea, with 1 species.

  • Order Marchantiales

    Thallus often of complex anatomy, with air pores on the dorsal surface, air chambers with chlorophyllose cells forming a photosynthetic area, and cells of the remainder of the thallus serving for storage; ventral scales often present; rhizoids; sex organs sometimes borne on a stalked receptacle; sporophytes with short seta or seta absent; sporangia spherical or elongate, opening by regular or irregular longitudinal lines, a caplike lid, or decomposition; sporophytes often carried up from the thallus surface by elongation of the stalk of a receptacle, with the sporangia hanging downward; occupying a diversity of habitats—some can withstand extended periods of dryness while others are floating or submerged aquatics, and still others grow in humid shaded sites—approximately 28 genera and 450 species widely distributed throughout the world; the genus Riccia containing nearly half the species of the order.

Critical appraisal

The evolutionary lines of the class Bryopsida are most easily demonstrated by the subclasses. The treatment of orders and families remains in a state of flux, with widely varying opinions derived from differing interpretations of the taxonomic importance of characteristics. Even phylogenetic placement of the sequence of subclasses is difficult.

Fundamental classification of bryophytes is hampered by a lack of criteria that can be used to interpret relationships. Molecular studies involving comparisons of gene sequences have not resolved all of the disagreements over bryophyte classification. Consequently, there are still considerable differences among classification systems. It is vital that there be an adequate assessment concerning the diversity of bryophytes that now exist. The limited number of researchers in the field of bryology curtails the acquisition of this information, much of which is being lost when vegetation is destroyed before the floristic structure has been documented and conserved.