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flowering plant Ceratophyllum demersum in the family Ceratophyllaceae
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A hornwort thallus close up (enlarge) | ||||||||
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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.