Hours later, when I returned from my chores in the city, the sporophytes were still there, still holding water.

几个小时后，当我忙好城里的事情回来时，孢子体仍然在原地，仍然抓着水珠。

And one with a full set of DNA, called the sporophyte generation because it makes spores.

种具有全套 DNA，被称为孢子体代，因为它产生孢子。

The sporophytes grow considerably taller than the bed, to allow the spores to travel far and start a new commune, a new family.

孢子体得比苔藓层高很多，使孢子能够传播很远，个的，个的家庭。

Down on my knees, at eye level with the bed, I reached out with a fingertip towards a sporophyte, but my hand stopped itself midway.

我双膝跪地，视线与墙藓齐平，向孢子体伸指尖；但我的手停在了半途。

One day, under a bright blue after-rain sky, I observed that the sporophyte capsules of a wall screw-moss bed growing on a brick fence had swelled to almost three times their usual size.

某天，在雨后的明朗蓝天下，我观察到生在砖砌围墙上的成片墙螺旋藓的孢子囊膨胀到了平时的三倍大。

As I carefully brush the backs of my fingers against moss beds, tiny stalk-like beings tickle me. Jutting out of moss leaves, these stalks are known as sporophytes; each sporophyte contains a capsule of spores at its outermost end.

当我小心翼翼地用手指背面扫过苔藓时，细小的茎状结构会挠得我发痒。这些茎从苔藓叶中探来，被称为孢子体，每个孢子体的末端有个孢子囊。

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.

拥有个优势孢子体带来了很多好处——比如，苔藓植物的产孢体不能得离地面很远；而无籽维管植物的孢子体可以得更高更大，有更多的空间容纳产孢器官。

On top of that, seedless vascular plants — and all plants that evolved after them — have a dominant sporophyte, meaning that what we tend to recognize as the plant is actually its sporophyte generation.

最重要的是，无籽维管植物——以及在它们之后进化的所有植物——都有个显性的孢子体，这意味着我们倾向于认为的植物实际上是它的孢子体代。