Moss - Tairui

A group of mosses, along with mosses and hornworts. Some plant bodies develop into thallus (Marchalean Mosses, Metiscolombia) and some develop into stem thallus (Scyllaceae, etc.). The cells of the tissue contain numerous chloroplasts, as well as oil bodies that are gray-white, brown, or blue in color. The sporophyte has very few chloroplasts, and dies soon after releasing the spores. The capsules are usually four-lobed, and contain spores and a filamentous, thread-like elastoma with two spiral filaments. The spores germinate into protonema, which consists of several cells, and the young plant forms at the tip of this. There are approximately 7,000 known species worldwide, of which approximately 600 are found in Japan.

[Hiroshi Inoue]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

蘚(せん)類、ツノゴケ類と並ぶコケ植物の一群。植物体は葉状体になるもの（ゼニゴケ類、フタマタゴケ類）と茎葉体になるもの（ウロコゴケ類など）がある。組織の細胞には多数の葉緑体を含むほか、灰白色や褐色、青色などの油体も含む。胞子体は葉緑体がきわめて少なく、胞子を飛ばすとすぐに枯れる。蒴(さく)は四裂するのが普通で、蒴の中には胞子と、糸状で2本の螺旋(らせん)糸をもつ弾糸がある。胞子が発芽してできる原糸体は数個の細胞からなり、この先端に幼植物が形成される。全世界で約7000種が知られており、このうち日本には約600種がある。

［井上　浩］

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