Form and function

The gametophyte form shows several developmental stages: the spore, the protonema, and the gametophore, which produces the sex organs. Spores of bryophytes are generally small, 5–20 micrometres on the average, and usually unicellular, although some spores are multicellular and considerably larger. Spores have chlorophyll when released from the sporangium. They are generally hemispheric, and the surface is often elaborately ornamented.

The protonema, which grows directly from the germinating spore, is in most mosses an extensive, branched system of multicellular filaments that are rich in chlorophyll. This stage initiates the accumulation of hormones that influence the further growth of newly formed cells. When specific concentrations of the hormones are reached, the branches of the protonema generate small buds, which in turn produce the leafy gametophore.

In most liverworts and hornworts, the protonema is usually limited to a short unbranched filament that rapidly initiates a three-dimensional cell mass, the sporeling. This sporeling is rich in chlorophyll and soon forms an apical cell from which the gametophore grows.

In moss gametophores the leaflike phyllids of the shoots are spirally arranged on the stem in more than three rows. Phyllids often have elaborate ornamentation on the cell surfaces. This ornamentation is often important in rapid water uptake. Although the phyllid begins its growth from an apical cell, cells are soon cut off between the apical cell and the base, and further division of these cells results in the elongation of the structure and also in the production of one or more midribs. The gametophore is often attached to the substratum by rootlike rhizoids. The rhizoids are structurally similar to cells of the protonema, but they lack chlorophyll. In some mosses, rhizoids closely invest the stem among the leaf bases and perform a significant function in external water conduction and retention before its absorption by stem and leaves.

The internal structure of the stems of moss gametophores is usually simple. The outer cells are often thick-walled and supportive, while the inner cells are generally larger and have thinner walls. Some mosses, however, have considerable tissue differentiation in the stem. In the moss subclass Polytrichidae, for example, a complex conducting strand is often formed in the centre of the stem. It consists of an internal cylinder of water-conducting cells (the hydroids) surrounded by layers of living cells (leptoids) that conduct the sugars and other organic substances manufactured by the gametophore. This conducting system is analogous to that of the vascular plants, except that it lacks lignin (a carbohydrate polymer), and it closely resembles that found in the fossils of the earliest land plants.

In gametophores of leafy liverworts, the leaflike structures are arranged in two or, usually, three rows. The plants are often flattened horizontal to the substratum. Rhizoids are generally confined to the undersurface of the stem and are important in that they form attachments and influence water retention and uptake by the plant.

In gametophores of thallose liverworts and hornworts, an internal conducting strand is rarely developed. In a few genera of the liverwort order Metzgeriales, the water-conducting cells have a form similar to water-conducting cells of vascular plants, but the cells of the liverworts and hornworts, like those of mosses, lack the lignin that characterizes the cell walls of water-conducting cells of vascular plants.

The thalli of most liverworts and hornworts consist of relatively undifferentiated layers of cells. Those cells on the dorsal surface are rich in chlorophyll, while those situated deeper within the thallus lack chlorophyll but have storage products of photosynthesis, especially starch. Fungi are often present in the cells of many thalli (and also leafy liverwort stems) and are probably important in water and mineral uptake as well as in making organic compounds available for the nutrition of the gametophore. The thalli of the liverwort order Marchantiales show considerable tissue differentiation, which gives these complex thalli a structure analogous to that of the leaves of vascular plants and provides structural features which allow them to occupy habitats too dry for many other liverworts and hornworts.

The sexual reproduction of bryophyte gametophores is usually seasonally restricted, often initiated by short-day or long-day illumination; thus, especially in temperate climates, sex organs appear and mature in the autumn, while in more extreme climates they appear in the spring or summer. In mosses, the sex organs are usually sheathed by specialized leaves and are embedded in a mass of filaments that protects the sex organs from drying out before maturity. Many mosses have antheridia and archegonia on separate gametophores, ensuring outbreeding, while others have both sexes on the same gametophore but apparently with features that discourage inbreeding.

In many leafy liverworts the archegonia are often enclosed by a protective sleeve, the perianth, and have mucilage hairs among them with a function similar to that of the paraphyses of mosses. The antheridia of leafy liverworts are often on specialized branches and at the axils of specialized leaves that are usually swollen to enclose them. Most leafy liverworts have antheridia and archegonia on separate plants.

The archegonia of the hornworts are completely embedded in the dorsal surface of the thallus, while antheridia are found in chambers near the dorsal surface. Thalli may contain antheridia or archegonia or both.

Sporophytes of mosses usually consist of the foot, which penetrates the gametophore, the seta, with an internal conducting system, and a terminal sporangium. The seta contains chlorophyll when immature and cannot absorb moisture from the environment because its surface is covered by a water-impermeable layer, the cuticle. The sporophyte is photosynthetic when immature, but its restricted amount of chlorophyll-containing tissue rarely produces enough carbohydrates to nourish a developing sporangium. All water and much of the needed nutrients are absorbed from the gametophore and are conducted through the transfer tissue of the foot up the conducting strand that leads to the apex of the sporophyte. The seta is made rigid by thick-walled cells external to the conducting strand. The sporangium differentiates after the seta elongates and is protected from injury and drying by the calyptra.

The moss sporangium usually opens by way of an apical lid (the operculum). When the operculum falls, there is exposed a ring of teeth that controls the release of the spores over an extended period of time. These teeth usually respond to slight moisture changes and pulsate inward and outward, carrying spores out of the sporangium on their jagged inner surfaces. In the moss subclass Polytrichidae, however, the tiny spores exit through a series of holes between the teeth and a membrane that closes much of the mouth; thus, any slight movement of the sporangium causes spores to shake out into the air. In the moss subclass Andreaeidae, the spores are released when the sporangium wall gapes open in longitudinal slits. In the genus Sphagnum, air is trapped within the sporangium as it matures; as the sporangium dries out, it shrinks, until the buildup of internal pressure abruptly shoots the operculum and spores into the air.

In most liverworts, the sporangium matures before the seta elongates, pushing the sporangium above the calyptra that protected it. Elongation is rapid, and the seta is held erect by water pressure within its cells. The sporangium usually contains within it elongate cells (elaters) with coiled thickenings that are scattered among the spores. When the sporangium opens, usually very rapidly when dry, it does so along four longitudinal lines, exposing the elaters, which uncoil rapidly and throw themselves and the adjacent spores into the air. Other devices exist for spore release in the liverworts.

Hornworts are unusual among the bryophytes because the sporophyte has indeterminate growth. This means that throughout the growing season new tissue is continually produced, even when spores are being shed. Early in its growth within the archegonium, the embryo produces a foot that penetrates the thallus and an apical meristem that elongates the rest of the horn-shaped sporophyte to rupture the thallus surface. A meristem (an area of actively dividing cells that gives rise to all subsequent tissue) is soon differentiated just above the foot, between it and the horn-shaped sporophyte above, and this meristem contributes new growth to the elongating sporophyte throughout the growing season and ceases when the gametophore disintegrates around it. The sporophyte thus matures near the apex while new tissue is differentiated just above the foot, contributing to the elongation of the sporophyte. The sporangium usually opens by two longitudinal lines on opposite sides of the horn. As the apex matures, it exposes the spores and elaters, which are released to the air.

Evolution and paleontology

The fossil record of bryophytes is poor. Some fossils, however, show a morphology, size, and cellular detail that characterize bryophytes, and the specimens are treated as fossil bryophytes. Since sex organs and attached sporophytes are absent in nearly all fossil material and because the gametophytes of some living vascular plants resemble the gametophores of some bryophytes, the assignment of these fossils as bryophytes is by no means secure.

The first evidence marking the emergence of bryophytes appears in rocks collected from Argentina that date to the early part of the Ordovician Period (485.4 million to 443.8 million years ago). More specifically, this evidence, which occurs as fossils of liverwort cryptospores (sporelike structures) that span several genera, was found in rocks laid down between 473 million and 471 million years ago. The cryptospores are considered to be the first known terrestrial plants, and some scientists contend that the diversity of fossil cryptospores found in the rocks suggests that plants invaded the land perhaps as early as 500.5 million to 485.4 million years ago, late in the Cambrian Period.

Other bryophyte fossils are contemporaneous with the earliest vascular plants of the Late Devonian Epoch (about 382.7 million to 358.9 million years ago). These fossils structurally resemble gametophores of the liverwort order Metzgeriales. Indeed, fossil material of the Carboniferous Period (358.9 million to 298.9 million years ago) also is structurally similar to genera of Metzgeriales. The specimens are surprisingly well preserved and show considerable cellular detail.

The most elegantly preserved bryophyte fossils are those in amber of the Eocene Epoch (56 million to 33.9 million years ago). The detailed cellular structure and morphology of the gametophore make the determination of the genus reasonably secure. The genera are still extant, although not where the fossil material was found, and even the species relationships can be suggested.

For mosses, the earliest material that appears unambiguous is from the Permian Period (298.9 million to 251.9 million years ago), and the detailed relationships are not clear. The subclass Bryidae is most likely, but more precise attribution is difficult.

Well-preserved material of mosses and liverworts appears in the Paleogene and Neogene periods (66 million to 2.6 million years ago), and most of the main evolutionary lines are represented. Fossils of the Neogene (23 million to 2.6 million years ago) are relatively numerous, and subfossil material of the Quaternary Period (2.6 million years ago to the present) can be determined with confidence as modern species. Mosses are most richly represented in this material, and species of wetland habitats predominate in the record.