Moss Life Cycle Diagram at Life

Moss Life Cycle Diagram. The life cycle of most mosses begins with the release of spores from a capsule, which opens when a small, lidlike structure, called the operculum, degenerates. Life cycle patterns human, moss, fern, flowering plant, comparison & asexual fertilization, mitosis and meiosis.

The leafy shoots (often called gametophores, because they bear the sex organs) arise from a preliminary phase called the protonema, the direct product of spore germination. A moss begins its life cycle when haploid spores are released from a sporophyte capsule and begin to germinate. In mosses, as in liverworts and hornworts, the leafy shoots belong to the gametophytic phase and produce sex organs when they mature.

Moss Life Cycle Labeling Page

In the majority of mosses, germination is exosporic, i.e., the spore wall is ruptured by the expanding spore protoplast after its release from the capsule and prior to any cell division. Some mosses have separate male and female plants, whereas others have male and female sex organs on the same plant. When mature, most mosses develop sex organs. The illustration is available for download in high resolution quality up to 5000x3520 and in eps file format.