Liverwort Sporophytes

Liverwort Sporophytes

This magnified cross-section shows young sporophytes developing from fertilised female cells of a Liverwort. The little sporophytes can not live on their own but depend on the mother plant for food to grow and produce spores. When they mature, the spore sacs burst and each spore that lands in a suitable spot may develop into a new Liverwort plant. [CH] {ML}