EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Some mosses have simple water and food conduction‐type cells (but these are not the same as the xylem and phloem tissues of vascular plants). They have no lignified cell walls (like wood) for strength, so the plants remain small. Neither do they have leaves, stems, or roots.

Detailed explanation-2: -Lignified vascular tissue. Mosses have some water-conducting cells, but they do not have the empty, lignin-reinforced cells that allow vascular plants to transport water with strong pressure gradients.

Detailed explanation-3: -Mosses are essentially non-vascular, which means they lack any internal vascular tissues to transport water and nutrients, or at least those tissues are poorly developed. This is why mosses are so small! They don’t have the rigid internal structures that would allow them to grow taller like vascular plants.

Detailed explanation-4: -Bryophytes is the informal group name for mosses, liverworts and hornworts. They are non-vascular plants, which means they have no roots or vascular tissue, but instead absorb water and nutrients from the air through their surface (e.g., their leaves).

Detailed explanation-5: -Nonvascular plants lack seeds and vascular tissue. These plants are very short because they cannot move nutrients and water up a stem.