Hello! I am a bit confused by the liverwort gemma and the

[OoBiologyoO]

Hello!

I am a bit confused by the liverwort gemma and the moss spores... how are they different?


Thanks!

[OoBiologyoO]

I am afraid we might get a question like that on the exam, since so many things can be compared.
I know that the gemma allows for asexual reproduction, and that it needs water for asexual reproduction...
But I feel that I'm still missing something...

Thank you!

[mkwaje]

I really think this is off-topic and should be posted on the Plants/Botany section. For moss and liverworts, try looking up definitions in Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moss
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marchantiophyta (liverworts)

[SU_reptile]

Thati's sort of easy thing.
Spores are produced by sporophyte in sporangia by means of meiosis in order to give life to new gametophyte (haploid phase) that is dominating phase in all bryophytes life cycles (that's why they are so characteristic among higher plants, aren't they?).
Gemma(e?) however, are creations characteristic for liverworts and are produced by gametophyte in special bowl-like structures. They are produced by means of mitosis and are the way liverworts propagate vegetatively giving new, however genetically the same, gametophytes.
It's worth knowing that vascular plants also produce structures playing the same role as gemma of the liverworts. Such structures are called plantlets (I hope that's proper word because I didn't know the English equivalent - nevertheless that's how they are named in Campbell & Reece book UNIT 6). They tend to be produced on leaf margins by some plants and may come off and start living as a new individual.