Bryophyta Temporal range: Carboniferous – present
Clumps of moss on the ground and base of trees in the Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania, USA.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Bryophyta Schimp. sensu stricto
Classes
Takakiopsida Sphagnopsida Andreaeopsida Andreaeobryopsida Oedipodiopsida Polytrichopsida Tetraphidopsida Bryopsida
Synonyms
Musci L. Muscineae Bisch.

Mosses are bryophytes, a group of plants without tissue to move water. Mosses evolved from liverworts.^p75

Moss tissue does not have cells that move water. This means that they are non-vascular plants. Water must soak into mosses like a sponge. A patch of moss is made of many tiny moss plants packed together so that they can hold water for as long as possible. They do not have roots. Because mosses cannot find water, they live in two ways. They can live in places that are always wet like near a spring, a river, or in a place where there is a lot of fog or has a lot of rainfall. They can also pause their natural processes when they dry up. Mosses can survive months in this paused state. However, they eventually need water to live. This means they can never live in dry places like deserts.

Mosses cannot grow very large because they could not move water to the top of their growth. The largest moss grows in New Zealand. It is about 30 cm tall.