Bryophyte

1.	Bryophyte
Answer» \tBryophytes include various mosses and liverworts, commonly grow in moist shaded areas in the hills.\tBryophytes are also called amphibians of the plant kingdom because these plants can live in soil but are dependent on water for sexual reproduction.\tPlant body is thallus-like and prostrate or erect, and attached to the substratum by unicellular or multicellular rhizoids.\tThey lack true roots, stem or leaves and may possess root-like, leaf-like or stem-like structures.\tThe main plant body of the bryophyte is haploid, produces gametes, and hence is called a gametophyte.\tThe male * organ is called antheridium, which produce biflagellate antherozoids and the female * organ called archegonium is flask-shaped, produces a single egg.\tThe antherozoids are released into water where they come in contact with archegonium and fuses with the egg to produce the zygote.\tZygotes produce a multicellular body called a sporophyte, which is not free-living but attached to the photosynthetic gametophyte and derives nourishment from it.\tSome cells of the sporophyte undergo reduction division to produce haploid spores, which germinate to produce gametophyte.\tThe bryophytes are divided into liverworts and mosses.

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