Nonvascular Plants
Nonvascular plants (informally called bryophytes) generally live very close to the ground, sprawling out rather than growing upward. This growth form is due to their thin body parts and lack of vascular structures that would support upward growth. Three phyla of bryophytes exist today: liverworts, hornworts, and mosses.
Part A - Bryophyte structure
Label the structures on this diagram of a moss.
Drag the labels onto the diagram below. Not all labels will be used.
In the life cycle of bryophytes, gametophytes are the dominant stage and are generally larger than sporophytes. The sporophytes of mosses are made up of a foot, a seta, and a sporangium. The foot is embedded in the gametophyte and absorbs nutrients from it. The seta, or stalk, transports the nutrients to the sporangium, which produces spores.
Rhizoids, which resemble the roots of vascular plants, anchor the gametophytes to a substrate. Rhizoids are not vascular structures.