What secrets lie within the microplants?

Microplants, scientifically named bryophytes, are a group of green land plants. They include liverworts, mosses, and hornworts. There are an estimated 25,000 species in the world. They prefer damp habitats although some species can survive in drier environments. Bryophytes are non-vascular land plants, i.e., do not have a complex transport system. They are seedless plants and do not produce flowers or seeds. Bryophytes reproduce through enclosed reproductive structures (gametangia and sporangia) via spores.

Land plants evolved from aquatic plants, especially green algae, over 500 million years ago. Bryophytes are the earliest diverging lineages of all extant land plants, according to molecular and DNA research. They shed some light on how plants migrated from aquatic to land environments. Bryophytes are linked to both land and aquatic plants due to a variety of physical characteristics.

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Liverworts - weird name, interesting story

Liverworts may sound like some medical condition, but it's actually a non-flowering plant apart of the bryophyte family. Scientists will often identify liverworts as Hepatics. Hepatics derives from the Latin word liver. It's a story that Marchantia was the most popular genus in the 1600's and its shape, pictured above, looks a lot like liver lobes which is how the name liverwort came about. Marchantia is one of the largest genus of liverworts that can be found all around the world. You can find it in damp areas such as, moist soil, pools, dune slacks, or any place that is damp. Just remember if you see a plant that looks like a liver it's most likely a liverwort!

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Fantastically Fascinating Frullania

A color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph of a tardigrade found in moss samples from Croatia in its active state.Credit...Eye of Science/Science Source

Frullania is the only genus of liverworts in the family Frullaniaceae. Frullania grows on trees, rocks and the ground. These liverworts have a characteristic type of leaf. There are two parts of a leaf, the thallus and a smaller pitcher like sac which holds water. Liverworts are like macrophytes, providing a matrix where many microscopic organisms live, including tardigrades, mites, rotifers, micro-mollusks, microalgae, microfungi, and prokaryotes

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Get Involved

Researchers at the Field Museum are attempting to classify a hyper-diverse group of early land plants in the liverwort genus Frullania. However, it takes a lot of work to discover, describe, and document new species. We need your help solving this mystery! You can help plant scientists generate data using the morphological tools on this site. The feature being identified, the reproductive structure and the stem and branching types is a very important characteristic in distinguishing between different species. More information about the genus can be found at http://bryophyteportal.org/frullania.