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Polytrichum Commune
''Polytrichum commune'' (also known as common haircap, great golden maidenhair, great goldilocks, common haircap moss, or common hair moss) is a species of moss found in many regions with high humidity and rainfall. The species can be exceptionally tall for a moss with stems often exceeding though rarely reaching , but it is most commonly found at shorter lengths of . It is widely distributed throughout temperate and boreal latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere and also found in Mexico, several Pacific Islands including New Zealand, and also in Australia. It typically grows in bogs, wet heathland and along forest streams. Description ''Polytrichum commune'' is a medium to large moss. It is dark green in colour, but becomes brownish with age. The stems can occur in either loose or quite dense tufts, often forming extensive colonies. The stems are most typically found at lengths of 5 to 10 cm, but can be as short as 2 cm or as long as 70 cm. They range in stiffness ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Hedwig
Johann Hedwig (8 December 1730 – 18 February 1799), also styled as Johannes Hedwig, was a German botanist notable for his studies of mosses. He is sometimes called the "father of bryology". He is known for his particular observations of sexual reproduction in the cryptogams. Many of his writings were in Latin, and his name is rendered in Latin as Ioannis Hedwig or Ioanne Hedwig. Early life Hedwig was born in Brașov, Transylvania, on 8 December 1730. As the son of a shoemaker, he grew up in poverty. It was in his childhood he became fascinated with mosses.Isely, Duane. One Hundred and One Botanists. Purdue University Press, 2002. He went on to study medicine at the University of Leipzig, and received his medical degree in 1759. Career After receiving his degree, Hedwig worked as a physician for the next twenty years. When he was not granted a license to practice in Transylvania with his Leipzig degree, he worked as a general practitioner in Chemnitz. It was during this tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dioicous
Dioicy () is a sexual system where archegonia and antheridia are produced on separate gametophytes. It is one of the two main sexual systems in bryophytes. Both dioicous () and monoicous gametophytes produce gametes in gametangia by mitosis rather than meiosis, so that sperm and eggs are genetically identical with their parent gametophyte. Description Dioicy promotes outcrossing. Sexual dimorphism is commonly found in dioicous species. However, according to Bernard Goffinet sexual dimorphism is rare in dioicous moss species. Dioicy is correlated with reduced sporophyte production, due to spatial separation of male and female colonies, scarcity or absence of males. The term dioecy is meaningless for bryophytes because it refers to the sexuality of sporophytes. Nonetheless dioecy and dioicy are comparable in many respects. Etymology The words dioicous and di(o)ecious are derived from οἶκος or οἰκία and δι- (di-), twice, double. (''(o)e'' is the Latin way ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate molecules, such as sugars and starches, which are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water – hence the name ''photosynthesis'', from the Greek ''phōs'' (), "light", and ''synthesis'' (), "putting together". Most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis; such organisms are called photoautotrophs. Photosynthesis is largely responsible for producing and maintaining the oxygen content of the Earth's atmosphere, and supplies most of the energy necessary for life on Earth. Although photosynthesis is performed differently by different species, the process always begins when energy from light is absorbed by proteins called reaction centers that contain green chlorophyll (and other colored) pigments/chromoph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polytrichum Commune Assimilationslamellen
''Polytrichum'' is a genus of mosses — commonly called haircap moss or hair moss — which contains approximately 70 species that cover a cosmopolitan distribution. The genus ''Polytrichum'' has a number of closely related sporophyte, sporophytic characters. The scientific name is derived from the Ancient Greek words ''polys'', meaning "many", and ''thrix'', meaning "hair". This name was used in ancient times to refer to plants with fine, hairlike parts, including mosses, but this application specifically refers to the hairy calyptras found on young sporophytes. A similar naming related to hair appears in Old Norse, ''haddr silfjar'', "hair of Sif", goddess from Norse Mythology, wife of the god Thor. There are two major sections of ''Polytrichum'' species. The first — section ''Polytrichum'' — has narrow, toothed, and relatively erect leaf margins. The other — section ''Juniperifolia'' — has broad, entire, and sharply inflexed leaf margins that enclose the lamellae on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phloem
Phloem (, ) is the living tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as ''photosynthates'', in particular the sugar sucrose, to the rest of the plant. This transport process is called translocation. In trees, the phloem is the innermost layer of the bark, hence the name, derived from the Ancient Greek word (''phloiós''), meaning "bark". The term was introduced by Carl Nägeli in 1858. Structure Phloem tissue consists of conducting cells, generally called sieve elements, parenchyma cells, including both specialized companion cells or albuminous cells and unspecialized cells and supportive cells, such as fibres and sclereids. Conducting cells (sieve elements) Sieve elements are the type of cell that are responsible for transporting sugars throughout the plant. At maturity they lack a nucleus and have very few organelles, so they rely on companion cells or albuminous cells for most of their metabolic needs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xylem
Xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants, the other being phloem. The basic function of xylem is to transport water from roots to stems and leaves, but it also transports nutrients. The word ''xylem'' is derived from the Ancient Greek word (''xylon''), meaning "wood"; the best-known xylem tissue is wood, though it is found throughout a plant. The term was introduced by Carl Nägeli in 1858. Structure The most distinctive xylem cells are the long tracheary elements that transport water. Tracheids and vessel elements are distinguished by their shape; vessel elements are shorter, and are connected together into long tubes that are called ''vessels''. Xylem also contains two other type of cells: parenchyma and fibers. Xylem can be found: * in vascular bundles, present in non-woody plants and non-woody parts of woody plants * in secondary xylem, laid down by a meristem called the vascular cambium in woody plants * as part of a stelar arrangement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Analogy (biology)
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last common ancestor of those groups. The cladistic term for the same phenomenon is homoplasy. The recurrent evolution of flight is a classic example, as flying insects, birds, pterosaurs, and bats have independently evolved the useful capacity of flight. Functionally similar features that have arisen through convergent evolution are ''analogous'', whereas '' homologous'' structures or traits have a common origin but can have dissimilar functions. Bird, bat, and pterosaur wings are analogous structures, but their forelimbs are homologous, sharing an ancestral state despite serving different functions. The opposite of convergence is divergent evolution, where related species evolve different traits. Convergent evolution is similar to parall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-vascular Plant
Non-vascular plants are plants without a vascular system consisting of xylem and phloem. Instead, they may possess simpler tissues that have specialized functions for the internal transport of water. Non-vascular plants include two distantly related groups: * Bryophytes, an informal group that taxonomists treat as three separate land-plant divisions, namely: Bryophyta (mosses), Marchantiophyta (liverworts), and Anthocerotophyta (hornworts). In all bryophytes, the primary plants are the haploid gametophytes, with the only diploid portion being the attached sporophyte, consisting of a stalk and sporangium. Because these plants lack lignified water-conducting tissues, they can't become as tall as most vascular plants. * Algae, especially green algae. The algae consist of several unrelated groups. Only the groups included in the Viridiplantae are still considered relatives of land plants. These groups are sometimes called "lower plants", referring to their status as the earlie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spore
In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, fungi and protozoa. Bacterial spores are not part of a sexual cycle, but are resistant structures used for survival under unfavourable conditions. Myxozoan spores release amoeboid infectious germs ("amoebulae") into their hosts for parasitic infection, but also reproduce within the hosts through the pairing of two nuclei within the plasmodium, which develops from the amoebula. In plants, spores are usually haploid and unicellular and are produced by meiosis in the sporangium of a diploid sporophyte. Under favourable conditions the spore can develop into a new organism using mitotic division, producing a multicellular gametophyte, which eventually goes on to produce gametes. Two gametes fuse to form a zygote which develops into a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peristome
Peristome (from the Greek ''peri'', meaning 'around' or 'about', and ''stoma'', 'mouth') is an anatomical feature that surrounds an opening to an organ or structure. Some plants, fungi, and shelled gastropods have peristomes. In mosses In mosses, the peristome is a specialized structure in the sporangium that allows for gradual spore discharge, instead of releasing them all at once. Most mosses produce a capsule with a lid (the operculum) which falls off when the spores inside are mature and thus ready to be dispersed. The opening thus revealed is called the ''stoma'' (meaning "mouth") and is surrounded by one or two peristomes. Each peristome is a ring of triangular "teeth" formed from the remnants of dead cells with thickened cell walls. There are usually 16 such teeth in a single peristome, separate from each other and able to both fold in to cover the stoma as well as fold back to open the stoma. This articulation of the teeth is termed arthrodontous and is found in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
