Biology / Unit 10 Bio 2171 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Bryophyte Defining Traits: Nonvascular, Gametophyte-Dominant
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The idea
Bryophytes lack vascular tissue for internal water transport, so most stay small, and their gametophyte generation dominates the visible plant body.
In practice
A moss's green, leafy structure is its gametophyte; its dependent sporophyte remains attached, drawing nutrients from the gametophyte throughout its short life.
Where people slip
A bryophyte's small size traces to its missing vascular tissue, not to any lesser evolutionary status among land plants.
Your place on the trail
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