The branch of botany that deals with the study of mosses, liverworts, and hornworts (collectively called bryophytes).
Bryology derives from Greek 'bryon' (moss) plus 'logos' (study/word), literally meaning 'the study of mosses.' The discipline developed as a formal field of botany in the 18th and 19th centuries when botanists began systematically classifying plant diversity. Modern bryology uses genetics, ecology, and molecular techniques.
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