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moss: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As Bryopsida • Bryophyta

Photos and Videos

broom moss
Young sporophytes of tortula moss (Tortula muralis) with slender red stalks and small capsules rise above dense green leafy gametophytes.
Diagram showing the life cycle of moss, including spore release from capsules, germination into protonema, development into leafy gametophytes, fertilization of eggs by sperm, zygote formation, and growth of new sporophytes.
Thick green bryophyte moss covers the trunks of three oak trees in a forest, with fallen leaves on the ground.
moss
Polytrichum moss
moss life cycle
Examine metagenesis and the roles of antheridia, archegonia, and the sporangium in the moss Mnium hornum
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Related Topics and References

Topics
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Key People

Moss specialist
Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton
American botanist
Douglas Campbell
Douglas Houghton Campbell
American botanist
Johann Hedwig, detail from an engraving, 1793
Johann Hedwig
Transylvanian botanist
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Potawatomi writer and scientist
Dillenius, detail from an engraving by James Heath after an original portrait by an unknown artist
Johann Jakob Dillenius
German botanist

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