… the study of mosses and their relatives (<Gk. bryon, “a moss,” or <Gk. bryos, “moss,” in turn <Gk. bryo, “to sprout, to grow, swell or teem with” + -logy, < Gk. –logia, “a speaking, discourse, treatise, doctrine, theory, science.” (See the CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, Volume 1: A-C and the Online Etymology Dictionary for details.) The following sources can give you some further ideas regarding the definition and attributes of bryology:
- Bryology entries in Oxford Dictionaries Online and Wikipedia
- What is Bryology? by Christopher Chatterton
- What is a Bryophyte Anyway? (The New York Botanical Garden)
- Bryophyte – Classification, Characteristics, And Habitats Of Bryophytes, Hepatophyta (division Liverworts), Hornworts (division Anthocerophyta) (with link to audio file)
- Musci (including the Marchantiophyta and Anthocerophyta, from Palaeos.org)