Species
Bug Moss
Mosses and Liverworts
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Bug moss, Buxbaumia aphylla, is a moss of the family Buxbaumiaceae and the type species of its genus, named for its lopsided, asymmetrical spore capsule, which perches on a short stalk and is thought to resemble a bug or beetle. Unlike most mosses, its green, leafy gametophyte stage is reduced to a microscopic, nearly invisible structure, so that the conspicuous part of the plant a person actually sees is almost entirely the spore-producing capsule itself, an unusual life history among land plants; it is native to North America.
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