Glossary

=Glossary=


 * antheridiophore**: a specialized branch that bears the antheridia in the Marchantiales
 * antheridium**: the multicellular male sex organ of bryophytes that consists of a stalked sac containing many sperms enclosed by a unistratose sterile jacket of cells
 * archegoniophore**: archegonium bearer; a specialized branch in the Marchantiales that bears the archegonia
 * archegonium**: the flask-shaped multicellular female sex organ that contains a single egg.
 * asexual**: reproducing without the union of eggs and sperms
 * awn**: a bristle or hair point, describing moss leaves in which the costa (midrib) extends beyond the main blade of the leaf
 * bilobed**: two- lobed
 * bistratose**: two cell layers in thickness
 * bud**: a cell mass in mosses that arise from the protonema or stem containing the apical cell that produces the leafy gametophore or branch
 * calyptra**: a thin hood that surrounds the developing sporangium or entire sporophyte, developed in large part from cells of the lower part of the archegonium.
 * costa**: a thickened midrib of a moss leaf or hepatic thallus
 * cuticle**:the noncellular waxy external wall coating of some cells
 * dioicous**: a gametophore that bears the male sex organs only; the female sex organs are borne on a separate plant; opposite of monoicous
 * diploid**: having two sets of chromosomes (2n), characteristic of the sporophyte generation
 * egg**: the haploid gamete produced by the female sex organ
 * germinate**: to begin to grow
 * gemma (-ae)**: a small vegetative reproductive structure that ultimately differentiates an apical cell, producing a gametophore
 * haploid**: a state in which each chromosome is represented only once (n), characteristic of the gametophytic generation.
 * multistratose**: composed of many cell layers
 * operculum (-a)**: the circular lid that closes the opening in a moss sporangium
 * peristome**: the circumference of the opening of a moss sporangium, usually with teeth.
 * protonema (-ta)**: the filamentous juvenile stage that precedes the formation of the gametophore
 * rhizoid**: filamentous structures that affix bryophytes to their substratum
 * thallus**: a flattened gametophore in which no leaf-like organs dominate the structure