Bryophytes

The division 'Bryophytes' is a small group of terrestrial plants numbering 20,000 to 25,000 species. As a group, they have worldwide distribution occuring in all climates of the earth. In general, the plants grow in moist situations. From the point of view of their evolution the bryophytes are lower than that of pteridophytes and phanerogams. Bryophytes are land inhabiting plants. Water is still needed for the movement of the gametes of bryophytes and in their vegetative structure, they have adapted themselves to a terrestrial life. Hence the bryophytes are called 'Amphibians of the plant kingdom'. The plant body is a thallus, generally small and attaining a length of a few inches. The plant usually grows attached to the soil by branches of the plant body called 'rhizoides'. 'Bryologists', generally agree that those members of the bryophyta exhibiting considerable external dissection of the thallus present a 'leafy' apperance and are primitive whereas those with a less-dissected apperance are highly specialized and advanced. Models of marchantia thallus, herbarium of mosses and their wet specimens are exhibited in the Systematic Botany Gallery.