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At least one of the spores develop into haploid female gametophytes, the megagametophytes. [1] The megaspore mother cell arises within the megasporangium tissue. In flowering plants the megasporangium is also called the nucellus, and the female gametophyte is sometimes called the embryo sac or embryonic sac.
Their gametophytes are distinctly smaller than their sporophytes (but have vascular tissue, unlike almost all modern vascular plants). [ 28 ] The remainder of the polysporangiophytes divide into two lineages, a deep phylogenetic split that occurred in the early to mid Devonian, around 400 million years ago.
Flowering plants contain microsporangia in the anthers of stamens (typically four microsporangia per anther) and megasporangia inside ovules inside ovaries. In all seed plants, spores are produced by meiosis and develop into gametophytes while still inside the sporangium. The microspores become microgametophytes (pollen).
Diagram of an anther in cross section. 1: Filament; 2: Theca; 3: Connective (the conducting vessels in red); 4: Pollen sac (also called sporangium) The androecium is one of the fertile cycles of flowers. The parts that make up the androecium are called stamens whose function is the generation of male gametophytes or pollen grains.
Megagametogenesis is the process of maturation of the female gametophyte, or megagametophyte, in plants. [1] During the process of megagametogenesis, the megaspore, which arises from megasporogenesis, develops into the embryonic sac, in which the female gamete is housed. [2] These megaspores then develop into the haploid female gametophytes. [2]
However, not all heteromorphic gametophytes come from heterosporous plants. That is, some plants have distinct egg-producing and sperm-producing gametophytes, but these gametophytes develop from the same kind of spore inside the same sporangium; Sphaerocarpos is an example of such a plant. In seed plants, the microgametophyte is called pollen.
Location of ovules inside a Helleborus foetidus flower. In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the integument, forming its outer layer, the nucellus (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the female gametophyte (formed from a haploid megaspore) in its center.
[citation needed] In the seed plants, the largest groups of which are the gymnosperms and flowering plants (angiosperms), the sporophyte phase is more prominent than the gametophyte, and is the familiar green plant with its roots, stem, leaves and cones or flowers. In flowering plants, the gametophytes are very reduced in size, and are ...