Economic Importance of Mosses

Mosses

Mosses are non-vascular, flowerless plants that belong to the Bryophyta taxonomic group. The parent group bryophytes, which includes hornworts, liverworts, and mosses, is also known as Bryophyta. Mosses usually form dense, green mats or clusters in moist or shady locations. Individual plant leaves are generally only one cell thick, attached to a stem that may or may not have branches, and serve a very limited function in water and nutrient transfer. Despite the fact that certain species contain conducting tissues, these tissues are often undeveloped and visually separate from vascular plant tissue. Mosses do not produce seeds, but rather sporophytes, which are unbranched stalks capped with spore-containing capsules....

Characteristics of Mosses

Mosses are non-vascular plants of the order Bryophyta, which also contain terrestrial plants.  They are generally herbaceous (non-woody) plants that absorb water and nutrients via their leaves and trap carbon dioxide and sunlight to make food through photosynthesis. Except for Takakiopsida, no known moss develops mycorrhizal.  They differ from vascular plants in that they lack water-bearing xylem tracheids or vessels.  The most common step of the life cycle, as in liverworts and hornworts, is the development of haploid gametophytes. In contrast, in all vascular plants (seed plants and pteridophytes), the tendency favors the development of diploid sporophytes.  Mosses lack blossoms and reproduce by spores rather than seeds. The stems of moss gametophytes can be straight or curved, simple or branching. Takakiopsida, Sphagnopsida, Andreaeopsida, and Andreaeobryopsida are early diverging classes that either lack stomata or have pseudostomata that do not produce pores. Stomata have disappeared from the remaining classes more than 60 times.  Their leaves are straightforward, frequently consisting of just one layer of cells with no internal air gaps and larger midribs. Although they lack true roots, they are anchored to their substrate by threadlike rhizoids. Through their rhizoids, mosses do not take up water or nutrients from their substrate. Their multicellular rhizoids allow them to be recognized from liverworts (Marchantiophyta or Hepaticae).  Mosses are distinguished from polysporangiophytes, which are all vascular plants, by the sporangia or capsules that contain their spores that are carried individually on long, unbranched stems.  The short-lived spore-bearing sporophytes (i.e., the diploid multicellular generation) are often photosynthesis-capable but rely on the gametophyte for water and most or all of their nutrition.  Additionally, unlike liverworts, the majority of mosses have spore-bearing capsules that expand and mature prior to their stalks elongating. This contrasts with the majority of mosses.  Other characteristics are not always present in all mosses and liverworts, but the existence of a clearly distinct stem and straightforward, non-vascular leaves that are not grouped in three ranks all indicate that the plant is a moss....

Classification of Mosses

The oldest terrestrial plants are mosses. Historically, the phylum Bryophyta was used to classify all mosses. The True mosses, sometimes known as the Musci, were one of the three groups that made up the Bryophyta. A novel taxonomy that places the Bryophyta as a subgroup of the Mosses has recently been proposed due to the differentiation of the thallus and, in particular, the sporangia. This most recent understanding distinguishes the following groups:...

Types of Mosses

Peat moss (Sphagnopsida)...

Life Cycle of Mosses

The haploid gametophyte and the diploid sporophyte, which is known as alternation of generation, alternate during the life cycle of mosses. The haploid gametes produced by the male and female gametophytes combine to form a zygote, which then develops into the diploid sporophyte. The haploid spores that the sporophyte generates later develop into the haploid gametophyte....

Economic Importance of Mosses

Florists utilize them to decorate homes. Sphagnum was employed as a bandage during World War I because of its ability to absorb water. In the past, it was also employed as a fire extinguisher. Peat, a layer of moss that has been collected, is burned as fuel....

FAQs on Mosses

Question 1: Do mosses belong in the plant kingdom?...