Bryophyte
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈbɹʌɪəfʌɪt/
Origin
From Bryophyta, from Ancient Greek βÏÏον ("moss") + φυτόν ("plant").
Full definition of bryophyte
Noun
bryophyte
(plural bryophytes)- (botany) Any plant of the division Bryophyta, defined sensu lato to comprise the mosses, liverworts and hornworts and corresponding to all embryophytes that are not vascular plants.
- 1993, Wilson Nichols Stewart, Paleobotany and the Evolution of Plants, page 77,Without going into their reasons, Bold, Alexopoulos, & DelBevoryas (1980) and Crandall-Stotler (1980) believe that there are at least three independent lines of bryophytes and that this is best reflected by establishing three divisions - the Bryophyta (mosses), Hepatophyta (liverworts), and Anthocerotophyta (hornworts).
- 2002, William R. Buck, Bryophytes, entry in Niles Eldredge (editor), Life on Earth, page 202,Because of their small size and often delicate structure, bryophytes have a poor fossil record, dating back only about 290 million years.
- 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA 2003, p. 312:And so it was that I was introduced to Len Ellis and the quiet world of bryophytes – mosses to the rest of us.