Moss, Liverwort or Hornwort species

Moderators

Become the first moderator for Mosses, Liverworts & Hornworts

Become a moderator

Overview

Bryophyte is the collective name for the mosses, liverworts and hornworts. Bryophytes are spore-producing, rather than seed-producing, plants and they are all without flowers.

While there are marked differences between mosses, liverworts and hornworts, they are related closely enough to warrant a single term that includes all three. Bryophytes vary in size from plants only slightly over a millimetre tall to trailing species which grow to strands well over a metre long. Although they are often found in rainforests they can be found in a variety of habitats including arid and alpine areas. They occur most abundantly in relatively unpolluted areas. They can also be found growing on a variety of surfaces (or substrates) ranging from soil, rock, tree trunks, leaves, rotting wood, bones, to old discarded shoes or gloves. Bryophytes don’t have true roots. They have root-like anchoring structures called rhizoids but these do not actively extract minerals and water from the substrate.

You can read more about Bryophytes here: https://www.cpbr.gov.au/bryophyte/

No species currently belong to this list.

  • Very rare / threatened (change?)
    * designates formal legal status
  • Non-invasive or negligible (change?)

Artificial intelligence

CarbonAI is not active.

Follow Mosses, Liverworts & Hornworts

Receive alerts of new sightings

Subscribe

Share field guide

Share link to Mosses, Liverworts & Hornworts field guide

2,197,065 sightings of 20,874 species in 9,253 locations from 12,665 contributors
CCA 3.0 | privacy
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.