3-320.00.00: MarchantiophytaEnglish: Hepatics; Liverworts; Marchantianae.
IntroductionMarchantiophyta or Liverworts are the second Class in
Bryophyta with about 14 genera and 9000 species. The name
Marchantiophyta shows that is treated traditionally as a Phylum, as it ends in -phyta. There are then 3 phyla of mosses
Anthocerotophyta,
Marchantiophyta,
Bryophyta. There is no Phylum mosses as the combination of the 3 clades is not monophyletic, although often the mosses in general are also named Bryophta.
From the point of view of the
Plant theory, the mosses are treated as one Phylum,
Bryophyta, which is divided in 3
Classes, which should be named Anthocerotoanae, Marchantioanae,
Bryanae, as
Classes have the ending -anae.
In the
Plant theory Marchantiophyta are placed in the second Class of the
Carbon series. The
Marchantiophyta are split in 2 Subclasses:
1.
Hydrogen series:
Haplomitriidae2.
Hydrogen series:
MarchantiidaeBotanySpecies: ± 9000 species; flattened leafless thallus, or leafy like a flattened moss; single-celled rhizoids; leaves never have a costa, may bear marginal cilia; leaves arranged in three ranks, deep lobes or segmented leaves, or a lack of clearly differentiated stem and leaves; small, 2–20 mm; globally; most often in humid locations; leaves rounded or with 2 tips; non-vascular bryophyte land plants; gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information; flattened leafless thallus or leafy like a flattened moss; leafy liverworts with leaves never have a costa and may bear marginal cilia, arranged in three ranks, deep lobes or segmented; lack of clearly differentiated stem and leaves; small plants, less than 10 cm long; may cover large patches of ground, rocks, trees; globally; almost every available habitat, most in humid locations.
Liver mosses grow only in moist areas, the surface is more protected and they have a wax layer. They are called liver moss from the signature theory, since they look similar to a liver, however they have no positive effect on the liver.
When one crosses thallous liver moses, one sees different cell types, it is more differentiated; They have an inner variety through the different cell types; This is the case with the leafy growing liver mosses.