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All spores the same size (homospory or isospory). Horsetails (species of Equisetum) have spores which are all of the same size. [28] Spores of two distinct sizes (heterospory or anisospory): larger megaspores and smaller microspores. When the two kinds of spore are produced in different kinds of sporangia, these are called megasporangia and ...
A sporangium (from Late Latin, from Ancient Greek σπορά (sporá) 'seed' and ἀγγεῖον (angeîon) 'vessel'); pl.: sporangia) [1] is an enclosure in which spores are formed. [2] It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular .
The sporophyte produces spores (hence the name) by meiosis, a process also known as "reduction division" that reduces the number of chromosomes in each spore mother cell by half. The resulting meiospores develop into a gametophyte. Both the spores and the resulting gametophyte are haploid, meaning they only have one set of chromosomes.
In meiotic sporogenesis, a diploid spore mother cell within the sporangium undergoes meiosis, producing a tetrad of haploid spores. In organisms that are heterosporous, two types of spores occur: Microsporangia produce male microspores, and megasporangia produce female megaspores. In megasporogenesis, often three of the four spores degenerate ...
The sporophyte phase has paired chromosomes (denoted 2n) and produces spores. The gametophyte and sporophyte phases may be homomorphic, appearing identical in some algae, such as Ulva lactuca , but are very different in all modern land plants, a condition known as heteromorphy .
In asexual reproduction, spores are produced inside a spherical structure, the sporangium. Sporangia are supported by a large apophysate columella atop a long stalk, the sporangiophore. Sporangiophores arise among distinctive, root-like rhizoids. In sexual reproduction, a dark zygospore is produced at the point where two compatible mycelia fuse ...
An annulus in botany is for ferns an arc or a ring of specialized cells on the sporangium. These cells are arranged in a single row, and are associated with the release or dispersal of spores. In mosses it is a ring of cells around the tip of the sporangium. In flowers it is a ring of hairs within the flower tube.
The sporangium walls are easily ruptured to release the spores, which germinate readily to form a new mycelium on appropriate substrates. During sexual reproduction, compatible strains form short, specialized hyphae called gametangia. At the point where two complementary gametangia fuse, a thick-walled, spherical zygosporangium develops.