Physcomitrium patens, or spreading earthmoss, is a small non-vascular plant used as a model organism in evolutionary and developmental biology. Despite its early divergence in plant history, this moss shares key traits with vascular plants, making it ideal for studying how plants might have evolved from aquatic habitats to life on land. With its leaflets being only one cell thick, its structure is simple and easily observable, and relatively small genome (511 Mbp) make it an excellent species for use in research, offering valuable insights into plant development and evolution.
