The term sporopollenin has been used in a broad sense to describe a class of highly polymerized natural substances resistant to acetolysis and found primarily in walls of spores and pollen grains. ... The discovery of sporopollenin localized in the helical thickening of the elateroderm (cell-wall of the elater) led to our speculation on whether or not the thickenings of the capsule-wall also contain the organic constituent sporopollenin. Knowledge of the distribution of inorganic elements in liverworts has been confined to studies of vegetative tissue. Shacklette (1965) noted the proclivity of liverworts to accumulate certain minerals, and his findings, coupled with recent availability of the sensitive technique of energy dispersive X-ray analysis, have piqued our curiosity about the major mineral content of sporophyte tissues, and in particular of the spores. The purposes of this paper are to present (1) evidence for sporopollenin as an organic constituent of the spore, elater, and capsule-wall, and (2) an analysis of the major mineral content of the spores, elaters, and capsule wall, based on the thalloid liverwort Conocephalum conicum.