Welcome to Hornwortbase!

Hornworts are a unique group of bryophytes, separated from all other land plants by more than 400 million years of evolution. With only a few hundred species, hornworts are a much smaller group than their closest relatives, the mosses and liverworts. Nevertheless, they contain several unique or unusual characteristics -- linear sporophytes with a basal intercalary meristem, a pyrenoid-based carbon concentrating mechanism, and symbiotic associations with cyanobacteria enclosed in specialized thallus cavities. [More...]