Elater: It is an elongated, spirally thickened, water-attracting cell in the capsule of a liverwort, derived from sporogenous tissue and assisting in spore dispersal. Within the spore capsules of many liverwort species there are elaters as well as spores. Elaters do not work in the same way in all species and there are some species where elaters play little or no role in spore release. Related Theory Mosses lack elaters. Within a developing hornwort sporophyte, the developing spores are mixed with sterile cells of varying form. These may be single-celled or multicelled and branched (liverwort elaters can be branched as well) or unbranched. Some bryologists call all such structures pseudoelaters, while others hold that some true elaters are present in some hornwort species. Note that by the definition of elaters as single-celled, the multi-celled sterile cells; within hornwort sporophytes cannot be elaters - leaving just the single-celled sterile cells subject to debate. As with the liverworts, the elaters or pseudoelaters of the hornworts play varying roles in spore dispersal.