Morphogenetic Designs and a Theory of Bryophyte Origins and Divergence

Morphogenetic patterns involved in spore germination, indeterminant leafy shoot growth, including leaf and branch formation and histogenesis, gametangial development, embryogenesis, sporophyte maturation, and sporogenesis show that mosses, hepatics, and anthocerotes are fundamentally different from each other. Such patterns support the hypothesis that the three groups of bryophytes originated from unrelated ancestors, and that their common features are due to similar reductive evolutionary processes, an alternative type of land plant advancement.