- Sporangia: Plants like ferns and horsetail make new plants by producing spores in parts called sporangia.
- Cones: Found on plants like pine trees, cycads, and ginkgo trees, cones are structures that contain pollen and seeds.
- Flowers: Most of the plants in our world today make their seeds inside flowers, with the seeds surrounded by fruit at maturity.
What is sporangium in plants?
A sporangium (plural: sporangia) is the capsule structure belonging to many plants and fungi, in which the reproductive spores are produced and stored. All land plants undergo an alteration of generations to reproduce; the sporangium is borne upon the sporophyte, which is the asexual second generation structure.
What are the names of sporangia?
The names of sporangia in lower plants reflect the structural features of the spores that form in them (for example, zoo-sporangium), the number of spores (monosporangium, tetraspo-rangium), the external appearance of the sporangium (cysto-carp), or the method of spore formation (mitosporangium, meiosporangium).
Can sporangia be composed of a single cell?
It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. All plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cycle. Sporangia can produce spores by mitosis, but in nearly all land plants and many fungi, sporangia are the site of meiosis and produce genetically distinct haploid spores.
What are sporangiospores?
The spores which are produced in a sporangium are referred to as the sporangiospores. These spores can either have one or multiple nuclei, even though they are usually unicellular. The spores' shape varies from ellipsoidal to globose.
What is sporangia and its function?
A sporangium is a structure in certain plants and other organisms that is charged with making and storing spores. Spores are haploid structures created in organisms that help to germinate and form new organisms. In other words, they help organisms to reproduce.
What sporangia mean?
Definition of sporangium : a structure within which spores are produced.
What is sporangia botany?
sporangium (pl. sporangia) A reproductive structure in plants that produces asexual spores. A megasporangium produces megaspores, which give rise to the female gametophyte; in seed plants it is represented by the ovule.
What are spores and sporangia?
Spores are asexual reproductive cells produced by algae, fungi and plants. Sporangium is the structure where spores are produced.
What is difference between sporangia and sporangium?
Sporangium (plural – Sporangia) is a structure in which asexual spores are formed. Sporangia are possessed by many plants, bryophytes, algae and fungi. Spores are produced inside the sporangia by mitotic or meiotic cell divisions. Sporangium can be a single cell or multicellular structure.
How do sporangia release spores?
Clusters of sporangia, or sori, appear as brown spots and may or may not be present on all leaves. Some species have sori on all the leaves, while others have specialized leaves that bear the sori. When the sporangia dry out, they break open, releasing the spores into the wind.
What are called spores?
spore, a reproductive cell capable of developing into a new individual without fusion with another reproductive cell. Spores thus differ from gametes, which are reproductive cells that must fuse in pairs in order to give rise to a new individual.
How many spores are produced in a sporangia?
number of spores produced per sporangium ranges from 16 or 32 in some pteridophytes to more than 65 million in some mosses. The sporangia may be borne in specialized structures, such as sori in ferns or as cones (strobili) in many other pteridophytes.
Is sporangium a fruiting body?
The most common fruiting body forms are a stalked sporangium and heterothallic myxomycetes sporangium contains mainly 7 parts. The Hypothallus is a thin layer deposited by plasmodium at the time of fruiting on the surface of the substratum.
Which plants reproduce by spores?
Plants that reproduce by spores Ferns, mosses, liverworts and green algae are all plants that have spores. Spore plants have a different life cycle.
What are spores made of?
In plants, spores are usually haploid and unicellular and are produced by meiosis in the sporangium of a diploid sporophyte. Under favourable conditions the spore can develop into a new organism using mitotic division, producing a multicellular gametophyte, which eventually goes on to produce gametes.
What do spores do?
A spore is a cell that certain fungi, plants (moss, ferns), and bacteria produce. Spores are involved in reproduction. Certain bacteria make spores as a way to defend themselves. Spores have thick walls.
What is sori in biology?
sorus, plural sori, in botany, brownish or yellowish cluster of spore-producing structures (sporangia) usually located on the lower surface of fern leaves. A sorus may be protected during development by a scale or flap of tissue called an indusium.
Where are sporangia located?
A sporangium structure is located on the branches of the sporangiophore, on its apex, or on a denticle that originates from the sporangiophore's side. The shape of the sporangium can be obovoid, globose, dumbbell-shaped, flask-shaped, or cylindrical-shaped in some taxa. The outer wall of the sporangium can have terminal spines, can be covered with spines or calcium oxalate crystals, or can be smooth. At maturity, the outer wall can be either evanescent, persist, or deliquesce, based on the species. The sporangia in species such as Poitrasia, Choanephora, Blakeslea, and Gilbertella contain persistent walls that bear calcium oxalate crystals. They are defined by one longitudinal suture.
What are the two types of sporangia?
Sporangia are known to be the specialized structures that produce spores in plants. Pteridophytes show the presence of two kinds of sporangia: the leptosporangia, and the eusporangia. In vascular plants, the leptosporangia and the eusporangia are the two spore-producing structures that are classified depending on the developmental sequence. The leptosporangium is found in exclusively ferns.
What are sporangia in mosses?
In liverworts, hornworts, and mosses, the single sporangium is produced from an unbranched sporophyte. This sporangium is a quite complex structure morphologically. Many non-vascular plants, along with lycophytes and ferns, produce only a single kind of spore, and so they are called homosporous. Some of the bryophytes, some ferns, and most of the lycophytes produce two different kinds of spores, and so they are called heterosporous. Megaspores and microspores are produced by these types of plants that give rise to functionally female or male gametophytes. The sporangia can be located on the tips and are known to be terminal, whereas they can also be located along the stem's side, or they are associated with the leaves and are hence known to be lateral. The ferns contain sporangia that are mostly located on the leaf's underside, also known as the subaxial surface. They are densely clustered and form the structure known as the sori. Indusium is a structure that can cover the sori. Some types of ferns possess sporangia that are scattered along with the reduced segments of the leaf or just along the leaf's margin.
How many spores are in a leptosporangium?
The leptosporangia have a single-layered wall and are comparatively smaller in size than the eusporangia. About sixty-four spores are found in a leptosporangium. Examples of leptosporangia are ferns like Nephrolepis, Adiantum, Pteris, and so on. The eusporangium is found in some primitive ferns and every other vascular plant. The development of the eusporangia initiates from many initial cells.
Which is larger, leptosporangia or eusporangia?
The eusporangia has a multilayered wall and is larger in size, so it can comprise a larger number of spores than the leptosporangia. Examples of eusporangia are Cycas, Selaginella, Psilotum, and so on. Both the leptosporangium and the eusporangium are created on a specialized leaf known as the sporophyll of any diploid sporophytic plant. After the process of meiosis, both the types of sporangia produce haploid spores. The first division observed in both the sporangia is a transverse division also known as periclinal division.
What is the plural of sporangium?
The plural word for sporangium is known as sporangia. It is a structure that belongs to many fungi and plants. The production and storage of the reproductive spores occur in the sporangia.
Is sporangia a vesiculate or non-vesiculate?
It is an apophysate when the sporophore apex widens at the region where it joins with the sporangium. It is vesiculate where the sporangia are just constricted below the sporangium, and it is wider below the constricted part. In most Mucorales, the sporangia consist of a conspicuous, relatively large columella that is known to be a sporophore's extension. This columella is smooth-walled, persistent, and has various shapes, like hourglass-shaped, cylindrical, glucose, and hemispherical. In some species, there is an occurrence of one or many apical spine-like structures.
Where are sporangia found?
In ferns, sporangia are typically found on the abaxial surface (underside) of the leaf and are densely aggregated into clusters called sori. Sori may be covered by a structure called an indusium.
What is sporangium in ferns?
Clusters of sporangia on a fern. A sporangium (pl., sporangia) (modern Latin, from Greek σπόρος (sporos) ‘spore’ + ἀγγεῖον (angeion) ‘vessel’) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular.
What is the role of sporangium in asexual reproduction?
In some phyla of fungi, the sporangium plays a role in asexual reproduction, and may play an indirect role in sexual reproduction. The sporangium forms on the sporangiophore and contains haploid nuclei and cytoplasm. Spores are formed in the sporangiophore by encasing each haploid nucleus and cytoplasm in a tough outer membrane.
How are spores formed?
Spores are formed in the sporangiophore by encasing each haploid nucleus and cytoplasm in a tough outer membrane. During asexual reproduction, these spores are dispersed via wind and germinate into haploid hyphae. Although sexual reproduction in fungi varies between phyla, for some fungi the sporangium plays an indirect role in sexual reproduction.
What is the structure of a fern called?
Sori may be covered by a structure called an indusium. Some ferns have their sporangia scattered along reduced leaf segments or along (or just in from) the margin of the leaf. Lycophytes, in contrast, bear their sporangia on the adaxial surface (the upper side) of leaves or laterally on stems.
How many spores are in a leptosporangium?
There are around 64 spores in a leptosporangium. In a eusporangium, characteristic of all other vascular plants and some primitive ferns, the initials are in a layer (i.e., more than one). A eusporangium is larger (hence contain more spores), and its wall is multi-layered. Although the wall may be stretched and damaged, ...
Do fungi produce spores?
All plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cycle. Sporangia can produce spores by mitosis, but in nearly all land plants and many fungi, sporangia are the site of meiosis and produce genetically distinct haploid spores.
What is sporangia in science?
Looking for sporangia? Find out information about sporangia. A case in which asexual spores are formed and borne. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill... Explanation of sporangia
What is sporangium in plants?
a plant organ in which spores are formed. A sporangium may be unicellular (in many lower plants) or multicellular (in higher plants). Certain unicellular green algae undergo complete transformation in the sporangium. In multicellular algae, such as Ulothrix and Ulva, cells indistinct from other cells may become sporangia; in Ectocarpus and Laminaría the sporangium is formed from cells that differ from all other cells and occupy a definite position on the thallus. In certain acellular plants sporangia are formed on the thallus by forming a septum. The sporangia of some oomycetes become conidia, fall off, and sprout. The names of sporangia in lower plants reflect the structural features of the spores that form in them (for example, zoo-sporangium), the number of spores (monosporangium, tetraspo-rangium), the external appearance of the sporangium (cysto-carp), or the method of spore formation (mitosporangium, meiosporangium). The succession of nuclear phases in plant cycles of development is associated with meiosporangia.
How many copies of DNA are in sporangia?
It is important to note that in culture (and in tissue samples), the number of nuclei varies greatly depending on the stage of development from thalli, which has one copy of the DNA, to sporangiathat can contain 40 copies of DNA in maturing endospores, thus resulting in the ability to detect less than one organism on average.
Which structure exposes spores to relatively higher wind speeds that can entrain spores from?
Thus, elevating sporangiaat the distal end of slender columnar structures above foliage exposes spores to relatively higher wind speeds that can entrain spores from sporangia.
Does the Boulder Patch have unilocular sporangia?
ovata, collected at the Boulder Patch during both ice covered and open-water summer season, fail to contain unilocular sporangia. Interestingly, unilocular sporangiaare present on specimens of the type collection from Godthaab (Nuuk), West Greenland (July 1890), noted by Rosenvinge (1893).
Do ferns have sporangia?
Higher plants form only meiosporangia. In bryophytes the sporangium is represented by the capsule of the sporogonium. The sporangia of ferns develop on sporophylls or in their axils. Sporangia may be solitary or in groups (sori) and may be free or con-cresced (synangia). Isosporous ferns form sporangia of a single type, which produce spores that germinate in bisexual prothallia. Heterosporous ferns produce sporangia of two types— microsporangia and megasporangia—which, in turn, form microspores and megaspores (from which male and female prothallia develop). All seed plants are heterosporous; the nucellus of their ovule is homologous to a megasporangium. The pollen cell in an-giosperms is homologous to a microsporangium.
What are the spores produced in a sporangium?
The spores which are produced in a sporangium are referred to as the sporangiospores. These spores can either have one or multiple nuclei, even though they are usually unicellular. The spores' shape varies from ellipsoidal to globose. Interestingly, these spores form b by the cleavage of the sporangial cytoplasm, and their color varies from colorless to yellow. The yellow color of the spores is due to the presence of carotenoids in the cytoplasm. The number of sporangiospores in a sporangium may vary from one to 1000 spores.
Where are sporagiospores found?
Sporangiospores are usually contained within a sporangium, which forms and protects them until they are mature for release in the environment. Sporangiospores form when the cytoplasm of the sporangium is cleaved. The wall of the sporangium blackens as it matures and splits open to release the sporangiospores.
What is the difference between a male and female gametagnia?
The male gametangia are known as antheridia, responsible for sperm production. The female gametangia are known as archegonia, and it produces eggs . Some mosses classify as heterosporous since they make two different spores. Those spores that give rise to the male gametophyte are known as the microspores, while the macrospores give rise to the female gametophyte when they germinate. Some mosses only produce one type of spores and thus are referred to as homosporous.
What is the name of the spores that are produced when the mother cells divide by meiosis?
Mos s sporangium is present in a mature sporophyte. It is attached to a seta, and it produces spores. The spores are produced when the mother cells divide by meiosis to produce haploid spores. The moss sporangium has a lid called operculum that breaks when the spores mature, exposing an opening where the spores escape from and can germinate to either a male or female gametophyte. This opening is known as the peristome.
How do fungi reproduce?
Fungi are a group of living organisms that are decomposers, and they can reproduce through sexual or asexual means. For most fungi to propagate and multiply, they produce spores. The mother-cell produces the spores. Thus, they act as a reproductive unit. Mature spores get released and give rise to a new generation once they germinate. Mature spores can get dispersed by rain, splash, wind, or insects. For the spores to develop and mature, they are usually enclosed in special cells known as the sporangium. The sporangium may be globose or cylindrical.
Which generation is dominant in most land plants?
Such a generation is said to be dominant. The haploid gametophyte generation is dominant in bryophytes, while the diploid sporophyte generation is dominant in most land plants.
Which gametangia produces the egg?
Antheridia is the male gametangia that produce the sperm, while the archegonia are the female gametangia that produce the egg.
What is the shape of sporangia?
The sporangia in most Mucorales contain a relatively large, conspicuous columella (an extension of the sporophore) that is persistent, smooth-walled, and variously shaped (hemispherical, hourglass-shaped, globose, obpiriform to cylindrical). In some species it may bear one or more apical spinelike structures.
What is a sporangium?
A sporangium (including sporangiolum; see Benny 1995b) is a structure borne on the apex of a sporangiophore or its branches, or on a pedicel or denticle that arises from the side of a sporangiophore, or from a vesicle in which 1 to 100,000 spores are produced. A sporangium can be globose to obovoid or flask- or dumbbell-shaped to somewhat cylindrical in a few taxa. Its outer wall can be smooth, have terminal spines, or be covered with calcium oxalate crystals or spines, and at maturity it can deliquesce, persist, or become evanescent, depending on the species. Sporangia in species of Blakeslea, Choanephora, Poitrasia (all Choanephoraceae), and Gilbertella (Gilbertellaceae) have persistent walls bearing calcium oxalate crystals and are characterized by a single (or more in Poitrasia) longitudinal suture that extends from the bottom to the top and then to the bottom on the opposite side. Sporangia can be nonapophysate (sporophore straight or constricted where it joins the sporangium), apophysate (sporophore apex widens where it joins the sporangium), or vesiculate (slightly constricted immediately below the sporangium but wider below the constriction). The sporangia in most Mucorales contain a relatively large, conspicuous columella (an extension of the sporophore) that is persistent, smooth-walled, and variously shaped (hemispherical, hourglass-shaped, globose, obpiriform to cylindrical). In some species it may bear one or more apical spinelike structures. Columella in some small, especially unisporate sporangia, if present, can be hemispherical (and often compressed when a spore is present) or discoid. In Mortierellaceae (Mucorales) the columella can be hemispherical to septum-like and is relatively small and inconspicuous. Sporangia may be produced alone or with chlamydospores, arthrospores, or yeast cells (Fig. 21.9 A and B ).
How many sporangia are in a synangium?
In S. saharaensis (Minor group), the synangium consists of four to five sporangia arranged around a reduced, vascularized pedicel (FIG. 11.96 ). Sporangial tips are curved toward the center of the unit ( FIG. 11.97).
How do sporangiospores form?
The asexual propagules that form inside a sporangium, which can be mostly spherical or cylindrical, through a process involving cleavage of the cytoplasm are named sporangiospores. These spores are thin walled, one celled, hyaline, or pale in color, and usually globose or ellipsoid in shape. One to 50,000 sporangiospores may be formed in a single sporangium. When mature, sporangiospores are released by breakdown of the sporangial wall, or the entire sporangium may be dispersed as a unit. Sporangiospores are produced by fungi of the Chytridiomycetes and Zygomycetes groups, as well the Oomycetes, a group of fungi that is phylogenetically unrelated to the true fungi. The sexual propagation of the fungi that produce sporangiospores occurs via the zygospore. The zygospores serve as resting and survival propagules and are found rarely in cultures of common fungi.
How are sporangia isolated?
Sporangia are isolated and their identity is confirmed at 400× magnification. The separated sporangia are submerged in dilute sterile seawater (15 gl −1 or less). Released zoospores are baited onto autoclaved plant bits. This can be accomplished on plates or in miniaturized fashion in well slides. Plant bits are transferred to new plates of A/T medium with inhibitors soon after it is observed that zoospores have been released. Inhibitors are useful, even if cultures of origin on the leaf-sampling plates appear pure, because bacterial or fungal contamination is likely to occur during initial identification procedures or during baiting in well slides.
Where is Sporangia apophysate found?
Sporangia apophysate with sporangiospores irregularly angled and often striate. Worldwide in distribution but especially in tropical and subtropical areas, from soils, grain, water, vegetables and fruit. Used as a fermenting agent in production of tempeh from soya bean, and tempeh-bongrek from manioc.
Which group of sporangia has thin-walled synangia?
The Latifolia group has thin-walled synangia composed of a small number of sporangia which are partially enclosed by the enrolled fibrous margins of the pinnules ( FIGS. 11.93, 11.94 ). The Minor group has pinnules that exhibit thin, lateral extensions of the lamina which also envelope the synangia.
Sporangia in fungi
Some groups of fungi, considered the most primitive or least evolved, have sporangia or capsules where spores are formed. These sporangia contain haploid cytoplasm and nuclei, and are located at the ends of specialized aerial hyphae, called sporangiophores.
Fungi sporangia that form spores with flagella (zoospores)
Primitive aquatic and terrestrial fungi form within their sporangia flagellated spores (zoospores) that allow them to swim.
Fungi sporangia that form spores without flagella
Some types of fungi also have sporangia that form spores that do not have flagella, or ability to move, but are dispersed with the wind.
Fungal sporangia and their role in sexual reproduction
The sexual reproduction cycle of fungi also varies depending on the group or phylla to which the fungus belongs. For some fungi, the sporangium is indirectly involved in sexual reproduction.
Sporangia on land plants
In terrestrial plants such as mosses, liverworts and Anthocerotophytas, an unbranched sporophyte (multicellular structure of plants in its diploid phase, which produces haploid spores) forms a single sporangium with a complex structure.
Fern sporangia
In ferns, sporangia are commonly located on the underside of leaves and form dense aggregates called sori. Some ferns have the sori in leaf segments or along the edge of the leaves.
Lycophyta sporangia
Lycophyta plants have their sporangia on the upper surface of the leaves or laterally on the stems.
