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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]
Megasporogenesis, formation of the megaspores in the megasporangium (nucellus) by meiosis; Megagametogenesis; development of the megaspore(s) into the megagametophyte(s) which contains the gametes. [2] In gymnosperms and most flowering plants, only one of the four megaspores is functional at maturity, and the other three soon degenerate.
Starting from a plant which disperses by spores, highly complex changes are needed to produce seeds. The sporophyte has two kinds of spore-forming organs or sporangia. One kind, the megasporangium, produces only a single large spore, a megaspore. This sporangium is surrounded by sheathing layers or integuments which form the seed coat.
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.
The megasporangium bears an unopened distal extension protruding above the mutlilobed integument. It is suspected that the extension was involved in anemophilous (wind) pollination . Runcaria sheds new light on the sequence of character acquisition leading to the seed.
In gymnosperms and flowering plants, the megaspore is produced inside the nucellus of the ovule.During megasporogenesis, a diploid precursor cell, the megasporocyte or megaspore mother cell, undergoes meiosis to produce initially four haploid cells (the megaspores). [1]
In seed plants, the microgametophyte is called pollen. Seed plant microgametophytes consists of several (typically two to five) cells when the pollen grains exit the sporangium. The megagametophyte develops within the megaspore of extant seedless vascular plants and within the megasporangium in a cone or flower in seed plants.
The sporophyll of a fern. It is a fertile leaf bearing reproductive structures. In botany, a sporophyll is a leaf that bears sporangia.Both microphylls and megaphylls can be sporophylls.