| definition |
- Mosses and Liverworts belong to the Phylum Bryophyta, Class Musci and Hepaticae, respectively. Bryophytes are relatively small plants that grow in moist places on land -- on damp rocks and logs, on the forest floor, in swamps or marshes, or beside streams and pools. In a moss, the sporophyte stage of the life cycle is a relatively simple structure consisting of three parts: a foot embedded in the "leafy" green gametophyte, a stalk, and a distal capsule, or sporangium. The gametophyte plants of some liverworts resemble mosses except that the "leaves" are scaly in appearance, and the "stem" is prostrate. Other liverworts grow as flat green structures lying on the substratum.
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