The illustrated guide to the bryophyte species found across the world is a well-presented hardback by the Natural History Museum principal curator of cryptogamic groups.
This group of plants is unusual. They are dispersed by spores rather than seeds. They absorb water externally across the whole body of the plant. They only grow to a few centimetres high.
With their unpronounceable names, these ancient, modest and often threatened plants are ubiquitous and often overlooked. Anthocerotophyta are hornworts, marchantiophyta are liverworts and bryophyta are mosses.
Hornwort genera are Anthoceros, Dendroceros, Folioceros, Megaceros, Notothylas, and Phaeoceros. These six genera represent the distinct forms of the hornwort division, Anthocerotophyta, a group of small, nonvascular plants found globally in moist, shady environments.
Liverworts come in 7,000 species and are among the most primitive land plants and are often found in moist, shady environments such as forest floors, riverbanks, and rocks near streams.
Mosses are better known. For instance, sphagnum is much-discussed as a cultivated crop that could replace dug peat.
Very extensive, pretty pictures, lots of in depth and original information; this book is invaluable for anyone who wants to know more about the world of plants.
