A member of the land-plant lineages comprising mosses, liverworts and hornworts. Their persistent gametophytes support attached sporophytes; physiological independence should not be inferred merely from a green sporophyte.
A hornwort is a bryophyte with a photosynthetic gametophyte and an elongated horn-like sporophyte. The two generations differ in structure and dependence; the visible horn is not the whole life cycle.
A liverwort is a bryophyte whose dominant free-living generation is the gametophyte. Some forms are flattened, while others bear small leaf-like structures. This diversity makes external appearance alone an unreliable definition of the group.
A moss is a bryophyte with a prominent gametophyte and a dependent spore-producing sporophyte. The familiar LEAFY shoot and the capsule-bearing stalk represent different generations of the same life cycle.

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