Three truths
- Timed
- Branched off about 470 million years ago · the last 11% of life's story
- Named
- ≈12,000 named living species · 0.7% of all named
- Weighed
- Part of Plants (mostly land plants) (≈450 Gt C), not measured separately.
Eukaryotes · plants and algae · phylum
Mosses
Bryophyta
Living · roughly 12,000 described species
Small plants without true roots or water-conducting tissue. They often grow in dense, damp cushions.
Small plants with no true roots that soak up water like a sponge.
Key characteristics
- No true roots; anchored by rhizoids
- Spread by spores
- Can dry out and recover
- Habitat
- Damp soil, rocks, bark and bogs
- Branched off
- About 470 million years ago (approximate)
- Parent lineage
- Land plants
Classification
Sources
- Moss (Wikipedia) · Wikipedia
- TimeTree: the timescale of life · TimeTree
- Open Tree of Life · Open Tree of Life
- Tree of Life Web Project · Tree of Life Web Project