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

耐阴喜湿的藓在这里找到适合的生长环境。

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

然后是角——有的藓，只有几百种，通常生活在热带地区。

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，藓仍是个兴旺的王国，大约有700个属，1万多个种。

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

我们并不根据低等的繁殖方式将它们分为 “藓门” 这样的类别。

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

让我们从藓开始，它们占据了低的树枝。

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

而王国中难道还有比藓类及其亲族藓更能体现触碰的存在吗？

The ancestors of today's bryophytes were here before the flowers, but the bryophytes and flowers alive right now have been evolving for the same amount of time since they went their separate evolutionary ways at that bottom branch point.

今天藓的祖先在花出现之前就已经存在了，但现在活着的藓和花已经进化了同样长的时间，因为它们在底部的分支点上分道扬。

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，这是藓生命周期中不可或缺的一部分。

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

它们通过孢子繁殖，就像藓一样，而不是更晚才发展起来的种子。

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

我们从孢子化石中得知藓已经存在了大约 5 亿年。

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

这可能会让人忍不住说藓比开花“进化得更慢”，开花是高的分支。

So moist surfaces are prime real estate for bryophytes — you'll find them clinging to the ground, rocks, and larger plants to absorb water and nutrients directly through the surfaces of their phyllids.

所以潮湿的表面是藓的主要栖息地——你会发现它们附着在地面、岩石和较大的上，直接通过它们的叶根表面吸收水分和营养。

What bryophyte can be used to dress wounds?

什么藓可以用来包扎伤口？

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

虽然藓种类繁多，但它们确实有一些共同点。

And despite having no formal training in botany, Hofmeister's observations through his trusty microscope led him to discover a whole bryophyte life cycle.

尽管没有接受过学方面的正式培训，但霍夫迈斯特通过他信赖的显微镜进行的观察使他发现了藓的整个生命周期。

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!

藓和无籽维管是第一批从那次事件中产生的，其中许多今天仍然存在！

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

藓常见的类型是藓，大约有 12000 种。

Having a dominant sporophyte introduced lots of advantages — like, while the spore-making generation of a bryophyte couldn't grow very far off the ground; the sporophytes of seedless vascular plants could grow much taller and larger, with more room for spore-producing organs.

拥有一个优势孢子体带来了很多好处——比如，藓的产孢体不能长得离地面很远；而无籽维管的孢子体可以长得更高更大，有更多的空间容纳产孢器官。

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，藓至今仍有这种结构。

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，我可以在讲藓上花上一整天，但它们只是我们藓之旅的第一站。