Question

Are Bryophytes Parasitic?

Answer 1

Hint: Bryophytes are an informal grouping of three non-vascular land plant (embryophyte) divisions: liverworts, hornworts, and mosses. They are typically small and prefer moist habitats, though they can survive in drier environments. There are approximately 20,000 plant species in the bryophytes.

Complete answer:
Bryophytes have enclosed reproductive structures (gametangia and sporangia), but no flowers or seeds. They reproduce through spores. Although some studies have produced contradictory results, bryophytes are generally thought to be a paraphyletic group rather than a monophyletic group. Whatever their status, the name is convenient and is still used as an informal collective term.

Bryophytes are gametophyte dominant, which means that the haploid gametophyte is the more prominent, longer-lived plant. The diploid sporophytes appear infrequently and are attached to and nutritionally dependent on the gametophyte. The sporophytes in bryophytes are always unbranched and produce a single sporangium (spore-producing capsule), whereas each gametophyte can produce multiple sporophytes at once.

A parasitic plant obtains some or all of its nutrition from another living plant. Plants like Cuscuta and Orobanche, on the other hand, only connect to the host's phloem (phloem-feeding). This enables them to extract water and nutrients from their host.

Bryophytes obtain their nutrients from the photosynthetic activity of chlorophyll pigments in chloroplasts. Furthermore, most bryophytes absorb water and dissolved minerals from the gametophore's surface.

Thus, Bryophytes are not Parasitic.

Note: Chlorophyll a and b are found in green algae, bryophytes, and vascular plants, and their chloroplast structures are similar. Bryophytes, like green algae and land plants, produce starch in their plastids and have cellulose in their walls. Plants have colonized Earth's terrestrial environments thanks to distinct adaptations observed in bryophytes.