Bryophytes that prefer dark and damp places find them suitable for flourishing.

耐阴喜湿的苔藓植在这里找到适合的生长环。

We don't taxonomise lower plants into one category, like bryophytes, based on their method of reproduction.

我们并不根据低等植的繁殖方式将它们分为 “苔藓植门” 这样的类别。

We're talking bryophytes and seedless vascular plants, the categories that include mosses and ferns, liverworts, and more.

我们说的是苔藓植和无籽维管植，这类植包括苔藓、蕨类、苔类等。

Let's start with the bryophytes, which occupy the lowest branch.

让我们从苔藓植开始，它们占据了最低的树枝。

This might make it tempting to say that bryophytes are " less evolved" than the flowering plants, the highest branch.

这可会让人忍不住说苔藓植比开花植“进化得慢”，开花植是最高的分支。

Even with lichens removed, bryophytes is a busy realm, with over ten thousand species contained within some seven hundred genera.

即使不算地衣，苔藓仍是个兴旺的王国，大约有700个属，1万多个种。

And is there any being in the plant kingdom that embodies touch more than moss and its family, the bryophytes?

而植王国中难道还有比藓类及其亲族苔藓植现触碰的存在吗？

You see, bryophytes were the first plants to start growing on land instead of in water.

苔藓植是第一批在陆地上而不是水中生长的植。

The most common types of bryophytes are mosses, with about twelve thousand species.

苔藓植最常见的类型是苔藓，大约有 12000 种。

So they developed root-like structures called rhizoids, and leaf-like structures called phyllids, which bryophytes still have today.

所以它们进化出了像根一样的结构，被称为类根，和像叶一样的结构，被称为 phyllids，苔藓植至今仍有这种结构。

And while bryophytes are diverse, they do all have some things in common.

虽然苔藓植种类繁多，但它们确实有一些共同点。

As you can tell, bryophytes and seedless vascular plants are not simply low-to-the-ground lurkers.

正如你所知，苔藓植和无籽维管植并不是简单的地下潜伏者。

But in order for bryophytes to survive on land, they needed to evolve ways to stay hydrated in the dry air.

但为了让苔藓植在陆地上生存，它们需要进化出在干燥空气中保持水分的方法。

They reproduce via spores, like the bryophytes, rather than seeds, which developed even later.

它们通过孢子繁殖，就像苔藓植一样，而不是晚才发展起来的种子。

What bryophyte can be used to dress wounds?

什么苔藓植可以用来包扎伤口？

We know from fossilized spores that bryophytes have existed for around 500 million years.

我们从孢子化石中得知苔藓植已经存在了大约 5 亿年。

Well, the bryophytes and seedless vascular plants were some of the first plants to arise from that event — and many of them still exist today!

苔藓植和无籽维管植是第一批从那次事件中产生的植，其中许多今天仍然存在！

And then there are hornworts, the rarest bryophyte — with only a couple hundred species that typically live in the tropics.

然后是角苔——最稀有的苔藓植，只有几百种，通常生活在热带地区。

Like, they all create spores, single cells coated in a super tough, armor-like molecule that are an integral part of the bryophyte life cycle.

比如，它们都会产生孢子，单细胞被一层超级坚硬的盔甲状分子包裹，这是苔藓植生命周期中不可或缺的一部分。

Let's be real, I could spend all day on mosses — but they are just the first stop on our bryophyte journey.

说实话，我可以在讲苔藓上花上一整天，但它们只是我们苔藓植之旅的第一站。