Classification of Bryophytes

Proskauer (1957) organised Bryophyta into three classes, distinguished chiefly by how differentiated the gametophyte is and by the structure of the sporophyte. Hepaticopsida (liverworts), e.g. Riccia, Marchantia, Porella, Riella, are the simplest bryophytes — more confined to damp, shady places, with an undifferentiated thallus, no protonemal stage, and a very simple, short-lived sporophyte (in some genera even the foot and seta are missing). Anthocerotopsida (hornworts), e.g. Anthoceros, Dendroceros, also have an undifferentiated gametophyte thallus with unicellular, unbranched rhizoids and no protonemal stage, but their sporophyte is differentiated into a foot and a capsule (the seta is absent). Bryopsida (mosses), e.g. Funaria, Polytrichum, Sphagnum, are the most advanced class: the gametophyte is differentiated into radially symmetrical 'stem'-like and 'leaf'-like parts, the rhizoids are mult …