Figure 27.7 A Life Cycle Dependent on Water The life cycles of nonvascular land plants, exemplified here by that of a moss, are dependent on an external source of liquid water. The visible green structure of such plants is the gametophyte, which contains haploid archegonia and antheridia. Water carries sperm from the antheridia into an archegonium, inside which an egg is fertilized and grows into a multicellular, diploid sporangium.