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A hornwort thallus close up | ||||||||
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Hornworts or horned liverworts are a group of nonvascular plants comprising the Class Anthocerotae. Some botanists classify these plants in the Division Anthocerophyta. The common name refers to the elongated capsules ( sporangia) that resemble horns.
Hornworts possess a basal meristem, and contain just one chloroplast per cell. Unlike other bryophytes, the hornworts have true stomata. The green plant body of a hornwort is the gamatophyte plant. The horn-like capsule is the sporophyte, growing from an archegonium embedded deep in the gamatophyte thallus.