208 PLANT MORPHOLOGY 



much green tissue and so exhibits a marked tendency toward independ- 

 ence The combining of photosynthesis with spore dispersal as functions 

 of the sporophyte permits of further progress, since both, favored by a tall 

 body have the same requirements. The plan of Anthoceros is the one car- 

 ried forward by the higher plants, where the sporophyte is dependent 

 upon the gametophyte only during early life. Thus A7ithoceros displays a 

 strong tendency that, if present in the ancestors of the ptendophytes, may 

 have led to their origin. 



