brīˈäfəd.ə noun plural
Usage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, from bry- + -phyta
: a division of nonflowering plants comprising the mosses and liverworts characterized by rhizoids rather than true roots, by little or no organized vascular tissue, by multicellular archegonia and antheridia in which only some of the cells are sporogenous, and by a clear-cut alternation of generations, the sporophyte being without chlorophyll and remaining attached to and nourished by the gametophyte — see hepaticae , musci