Bryophyte is a traditional name used to refer to all embryophytes (land plants) that do not have true vascular tissue and are therefore called "non-vascular plants". Some bryophytes do have specialized

tissues for the transport of water; however, since these do not contain lignin, they are not considered to be true vascular tissue. As

of 2014, it is uncertain whether bryophytes are a natural or monophyletic group or a paraphyletic group, but the name is convenient and remains in use as a collective term for mosses,

hornworts, and liverworts. Bryophytes produce enclosed reproductive structures (gametangia and sporangia), but they

produce neither flowers nor seeds, reproducing via spores. The term "bryophyte" comes from Greek βρύον, Bryon, "tree-moss, oyster-

green" + φυτόν - phyton "plant".

The division bryophyte, comprises the mosses, as well as liverworts and hornworts. The bryophytes are thought to have been the first true plants. They are also called amphibians of the plant kingdom.

The thallophytes (Thallophyta or Thallobionta) are a polyphyletic group of non-mobile organisms traditionally

described as "thalloid plants", "relatively simple plants" or "lower plants". They were a defunct division of Kingdom

Plantae that included fungus, lichens and algae and occasionally bryophytes, bacteria and the Myxomycota. They have a hidden reproductive system and hence they

are also called Cryptogamae (together with ferns), as opposed to Phanerogamae. The thallophytes are defined as

having undifferentiated bodies (thalli), as opposed to cormophytes (Cormophyta) with roots and stems.