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In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. [1] Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, fungi and protozoa. [2]
[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 ...
Plant spores designed for dispersal are also referred to as diaspores. Plant spores are most obvious in the reproduction of ferns and mosses. However, they also exist in flowering plants where they develop hidden inside the flower. For example, the pollen grains of flowering plants develop out of microspores produced in the anthers.
A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that reproduces by means of spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as "cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden. They are also the ancestors of the plants we see today.
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).
At one time, the cryptogams were formally recognised as a group within the plant kingdom. In his system for classification of all known plants and animals, Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) divided the plant kingdom into 24 classes, [1] one of which was the "Cryptogamia". This included all plants with concealed reproductive organs.
The rhyniophytes included "protracheophytes", which were precursors to vascular plants (e.g., Horneophyton, Aglaophyton); basal tracheophytes (e.g., Stockmansella, Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii); and plants allied to the lineages that led to the living club-mosses and allies as well as ferns and seed plants (e.g., Cooksonia species).
Conidiogenesis corresponds to Embryology in animals and plants and can be divided into two fundamental forms of development: blastic conidiogenesis, where the spore is already evident before it separates from the conidiogenic hypha, and thallic conidiogenesis, during which a cross-wall forms and the newly created cell develops into a spore. The ...