The roughly 18000 species of bryophytes are generally classified into three coordinate phyla, the Marchantiophyta, Bryophyta and Anthocerotophyta. Phylogenetic analyses such as those of Mishler and Qiu suggest that these phyla do not form a monphyletic group, but rather represent a grade in embryophyte evolution. In most recent analyses liverworts are resolved as the first divergence of land plants. The classification of bryophytes has been controversial among ...
