One of the most ancient inhabitants of our planet are numerous species of mosses and lichens, covering large areas. These plants are united by kinship with algae, but there are significant differences between them.
Lichen is a symbiosis of fungi and algae. Between fungal fibers, algae grows. This structure of the body of the lichen allows the plant to absorb moisture with the help of mushroom filaments and process the minerals dissolved in it into organic substances with the help of green algae. Compared to mosses, lichens are more unpretentious, but dry out when there is a lack of moisture and die in the absence of light.
Mosses need shading and water, which is sucked out of the ground by special threadlike processes - rhizoids, which act as roots. Different types of mosses have different structures, but they all reproduce by spores. Water plays a key role in reproduction, since it is with its help that the spores of males reach the female zygote and fertilize it.
All species of moss reproduce with an intermediate stage - the formation of an asexual plant - protophyte, incapable of reproduction, on which a box with spores matures. As a result of meiosis, spores germinate and form a protonema - a filiform structure, which subsequently turns into a female or male plant - gametophyte. Thus, there is an alternation of the sexual generation with asexual.
Mossy plants are conventionally divided into 3 classes:
1. Antotserotovye. Species of mosses of this class have more than 300 species, the main distribution area is the tropics. Antotserotovye mosses have a peculiar structure - the genitals are located in the lower layer of the plant, which is a rosette from which an elongated pod-shaped sporogon protrudes, having eletars - threads that contribute to better dispersion of spores.
2. Hepatic mosses, represented by subclasses marchantium and yungermannievye. The first subclass includes plants, the gametophyte of which can be diverse in form and has one oily body, and the sporogon is primitive and devoid of septum. Plants of the second subclass possess several oily bodies and are very diverse in gametophyte shape. The liverworts are especially common in the tropics and subtropics.
3. Leafy. The species of deciduous mosses number several tens of thousands (about 95% of all mosses) and include 3 subclasses: Brie, Sphagnum and Andreev. The Andreevs include small plants of red-brown color, they grow on the rocks. Sphagnum is characterized by the presence of a direct stem and sporogon in the form of a spherical box. Brie mosses are very diverse, but all plants have special prongs for dispersing spores.
All deciduous were distributed in forests and swamps, in the northern regions. The most famous are moss Kukushkin flax, sphagnum, leucobria - species of moss, photos of which are found both in serious encyclopedias and in the collections of photographers.
Mosses play a huge role in the formation of biocenoses and in the formation of peat, which is used in industry. To design the garden plots, moss is used, which is easy to grow independently using yeast, sugar, kefir and any part of the plants.