A liverwort, Lunularia cruciata

Marchantia polymorpha, with different sex sporophytes.

The liverworts are a group of simple plants. Scientists believe that liverworts were the first bryophyte to evolve. They believe that mosses, hornworts, and more complex plants then evolved from liverworts. Scientists decided this from mitochondrial DNA.^p75

Liverworts are usually placed in the bryophytes, a group of plants without tissue to conduct water. That is why they always need to live near a spring, a river, or in a place where there is a lot of fog or has a lot of rainfall. This group also includes with mosses and hornworts. Recent taxonomy gave them their own division called the Marchantiophyta. However, since the classification is not yet settled, we use the old terms.