Liverwort  (Cephaloziella massalongi)

Information authenticated by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew:
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/

• Gametophyte: a life cycle stage in plants, which has one set of chromosomes (threads of DNA protein) in the cell nucleus (a condition known as ‘haploid’), which arises from a spore (which is also haploid). Sex cells (gametes) are produced during the gametophyte stage. This is the dominant life-cycle stage in liverworts and mosses.
• Gemmae: in bryophytes, a structure involved in vegetative reproduction, a type of asexual reproduction, reproduction without recombination of genetic material, that results in the propagation of plants using only the vegetative tissues such as leaves or stems. The resulting plant is genetically identical to the original plant. A well-known example of this is the reproduction of strawberry plants from ‘runners’. In vascular plants, gemmae are modified organs of the parent plant that can allow vegetative reproduction.
• Rhizoids: thread-like structures that help to anchor the plant to the substrate, and absorb minerals and water. In liverworts they consist of a single cell, in mosses they are multi-cellular.
• Sporophyte: the stage of a plant life cycle that produces spores (microscopic particles used in dispersal and reproduction). This stage is diploid (in the cell nucleus there are two sets of chromosomes - threads of DNA protein) and is dominant in ‘higher’ plants such as flowering plants.
• Vascular system: in plants, the system that allows water and nutrients to move around.

1. National Biodiversity Network Species Dictionary (May 2002) http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nbn/
2. Paton, J. A. (1999) The liverwort flora of British Isles. Harley Books, Colchester.
3. Church, J. M., Hodgetts, N. G., Preston, C. D. and Stewart, N. F. (2001) British Red Data Books: mosses and liverworts. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.
4. Mosses and Liverworts in Wales (May 2002): http://home.clara.net/adhale/bryos/