Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of numerous photosynthetic, chiefly terrestrial, nonvascular plants that reproduce by spores, including the mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. These three groups together formerly made up the division Bryophyta, which is now restricted to the mosses alone.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A member of the Bryophyta.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun any of numerous plants of the division bryophyta.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun botany A member of the Bryophyta (in the broadest sense). Any plant in which the gametophyte (haploid) stage of the lifecycle is the larger, persistent stage, and the sporophyte (diploid) stage is small and dependent upon the gametophyte. Bryophytes include mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of numerous plants of the division Bryophyta

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Bryophyta, division name : bryo– + –phyte.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Bryophyta, from Ancient Greek βρύον ("moss") + φυτόν ("plant").

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Examples

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  • Earth's early plant biosphere consisted of simple bryophytes, such as moss, which are non-vascular -- meaning they do not have vein-like systems to conduct water and minerals around the plant.
    Humble Moss Helped Create Our Oxygen-Rich Atmosphere, Science Daily, Aug. 15, 2016

    August 19, 2016