Bryophyte is a traditional name used to refer to all embryophytes (land plants) that do not have true vascular tissue and are therefore called 'non-vascular plants'. Some bryophytes do have specialized tissues for the transport of water; however since these do not contain lignin, they are not considered to be true vascular tissue. Currently bryophytes are thought not to be a natural or monophyletic group; however the name is convenient and remains in use as a collective term for mosses, hornworts, and liverworts. Bryophytes produce enclosed reproductive structures (gametangia and sporangia), but they produce neither flowers nor seeds, reproducing via spores. The term bryophyte comes from Greek βρύον - bryon, "tree-moss, oyster-green" + φυτόν - fyton "plant".

Traditionally, all living land plants without vascular tissues were classified in a single taxonomic group, often a division (or phylum). More recently, phylogenetic research has questioned whether the bryophytes form a monophyletic group and thus whether they should form a single taxon. A broad consensus among systematists has recently emerged that bryophytes as a whole are not a natural group (i.e. are paraphyletic), although each of the three extant (living) groups is monophyletic. The three lineages are Marchantiophyta (liverworts), Bryophyta (mosses) and Anthocerotophyta (hornworts).