How do liverwort elaters help disperse spores?

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Thick green bryophyte moss covers the trunks of three oak trees in a forest, with fallen leaves on the ground. — bryophyte Bryophyte moss growing on oak trees.

In liverworts, elaters are elongated, sterile cells found within the sporangium alongside developing spores. These structures are characterized by having coiled thickenings along their walls.12

When the sporangium dries and opens—typically along four longitudinal lines—the elaters respond to the change in moisture. They uncoil rapidly, a movement that physically throws both the elaters themselves and the adjacent spores into the air, thereby facilitating their dispersal.2