|
|
|
|
|
Bryophyte Glossary of Terms | |
| Acrocarpous | describes mosses whose sporophytes grow only from the tips of gametophores - see pleurocarpous | |
| Antheridium | the sperm-producing organ, the male gametangium | |
| Archegonium | the egg-producing organ, the female gametangium | |
| Attenuate
|
becoming narrower along the length | |
| Bilobed-complicate | having leaves with two lobes of different shapes | |
| Caducous | tending to fall off or be shed, often specifically at a certain point in development | |
| Calyptra | a cap over the capsule of some mosses that develops from the archegonium and is torn off the gametophyte and borne aloft by the elongating sporophyte | |
| Capitulum | the tight cluster of branches resembling a head borne at the tip of a Sphagnum gametophore | |
| Capsule | the structure at the tip of a bryophyte’s sporophyte which consists of the sporangium and its surrounding walls | |
| Costa | the midrib of a leaf | |
| Crispate | contorted when dry | |
| Cucullate | shaped like a hood | |
| Decurrent | extending along the stem; usually used to describe leaf bases that extend along the stem behind the leaf. | |
| Dioicous | the condition of a bryophyte species whose individual plants bear either antheridia or archegonia but not both - see monoicous | |
| Edentate | not having teeth | |
| Entire | smooth; used to describe the margin of a leaf that has no lobes or teeth | |
| Falcate | shaped like a scythe; this term is commonly used in combination with secund to describe mosses whose leaves all curve in the same direction, e. g. the leaves of Dicranum scoparium are falcate-secund. | |
| Gametophore | the shoot of a bryophyte. The gametophyte of one individual organism is made up of many gametophores. | |
| Gametophyte | the gamete-producing stage of a plant’s life cycle. In bryophytes, the gametophyte is free-living and photosynthetic – see sporophyte. | |
| Gemma | any piece of gametophytic tissue that can grow into new gametophores when separated from the parent gametophyte. Gemmae can be specially formed structures, broken leaf tips, caducous leaves, or reduced, clustered branchlets. | |
| Imbricate |
overlapping | |
| Inclined | angled downward | |
| Incubous | having leaves inserted on an angle sloping upward toward the tip of a leafy liverwort shoot. This condition often results in the forward edges of leaves overlapping the back edges of the leaves in front of them – see succubous. | |
| Invollute | curled inward | |
| Julaceous
|
worm-like; used to describe mosses whose leaves lie flat along the stem when dry so that the dry gametophore looks like a worm, in contrast to crispate | |
| Keel | the sharp crease that is often present where the two lobes of a bilobed-complicate leaf are connected | |
| Lobe | when a leaf is divided into two or more sections, each one is called a lobe | |
| Lobule | the smaller of the two lobes in a bilobed-complicate leaf | |
| Monoicous |
the condition of a bryophyte species whose individual plants can bear both antheridia and archegonia - see dioicous | |
| Operculum | the “little door” portion of a capsule that falls off when the capsule is mature to release the spores | |
| Ovate | oval shaped | |
| Papillose | having small bumps | |
| Paraphyllia | specialized leaf-like structures that grow along the stems of some mosses | |
| Pendent | hanging or nodding | |
| Perichaetium | the specialized branch that produces archegonia, literally meaning the structure that surrounds the bristles (archegonia) | |
| Perigonium | the specialized branch that produces antheridia, literally meaning the structure that surrounds the gonads | |
| Peristome | the structure made of a few or many teeth that surrounds the opening of most moss capsules and aids in spore dispersal | |
| Phyllid | another term for a bryophyte leaf | |
| Pinnate | having branches (or veins or leaflets) that stick out from the main branch (or stem or midrib) in pairs opposite one another | |
| Pleurocarpous | describes mosses whose sporophytes grow from short, specialized branches along the stems of gametophores - see acrocarpous. | |
| Plicate |
pleated | |
| Prostrate | lying flat on the substratum | |
| Protonema | the haploid, filamentous structure that grows from a germinating spore and eventually forms buds that grow into gametophores | |
| Rhizoids | root-like structures of bryophytes, lichens, and some algae that are used for anchorage but not conduction of water | |
| Secund |
all pointing in the same direction - see falcate | |
| Serrate | toothed | |
| Seta | the stalk portion of a bryophyte’s sporophyte | |
| Sinuous | curving or winding back and forth | |
| Sporangium | the organ in which meiosis takes place and spores are produced | |
| Spore | a specialized haploid cell that is formed by meiosis within the sporangium and eventually grows into a gametophyte | |
| Sporophyte | the spore-producing stage of a plant’s life cycle. In bryophytes, the sporophyte is unbranched and nutritionally dependent on the gametophyte. | |
| Squarrose |
sticking out at right angles from the main stem; in bryophytes this term is most commonly applied to leaves. | |
| Subspherical | almost spherical | |
| Succubous | having leaves inserted on an angle sloping downward toward the tip of a leafy liverwort shoot. This condition often results in the rear edges of leaves lying underneath the rear edges of the leaves in front of them - see incubous. | |
| Thalloid | having an overall morphology that is not differentiated into stems and leaves. Thalloid organisms grow by extension of their margins into lobes, as opposed to plants that grow by extension and differentiation of their tips into leaves and branches. | |
| Underleaves | the special row of leaves that grow from the bottom of the stem in some leafy liverworts | |
| Undulate | wavy | |
| Zygote | the diploid cell formed by the fusion of an egg cell and a sperm cell that will divide and grow into the sporophyte | |
By Gillian Gile Home | Introduction | Methods | Species Accounts | Guided Tour | Glossary © 2006 Department of Botany, University of British Columbia |
||