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Diagram showing the alternation of generations between a diploid sporophyte (bottom) and a haploid gametophyte (top) A sporophyte (/ ˈ s p ɔːr. ə ˌ f aɪ t /) is the diploid multicellular stage in the life cycle of a plant or alga which produces asexual spores. This stage alternates with a multicellular haploid gametophyte phase.
In liverworts, mosses and hornworts, the dominant form is the haploid gametophyte. The diploid sporophyte is not capable of an independent existence, gaining most of its nutrition from the parent gametophyte, and having no chlorophyll when mature. [21] Sporophyte of Lomaria discolor, a fern ; Dominant sporophyte (sporophytic).
Two gametes fuse to form a zygote, which develops into a new sporophyte. This cycle is known as alternation of generations . The spores of seed plants are produced internally, and the megaspores (formed within the ovules) and the microspores are involved in the formation of more complex structures that form the dispersal units, the seeds and ...
The sporophyte lacks an apical meristem, an auxin-sensitive point of divergence with other land plants some time in the Late Silurian/Early Devonian. [17] [18] When the sporophyte is mature, it has a multicellular outer layer, a central rod-like columella running up the center, and a layer of tissue in between that produces spores and pseudo ...
Heterospory stops self-fertilization from occurring in a gametophyte, but does not stop two gametophytes that originated from the same sporophyte from mating. [8] This specific type of self-fertilization is termed as sporophytic selfing, and in extant plants it occurs most commonly among angiosperms .
In the bryophytes the sporophyte remains dependent on the gametophyte, while in all other embryophytes the sporophyte generation is dominant and capable of independent existence. Embryophytes also differ from algae by having metamers. Metamers are repeated units of development, in which each unit derives from a single cell, but the resulting ...
The Zygnematophyceae, formerly known as the Conjugatophyceae, generally possess two fairly elaborate chloroplasts in each cell, rather than many discoid ones. They reproduce asexually by the development of a septum between the two cell-halves or semi-cells (in unicellular forms, each daughter-cell develops the other semi-cell afresh) and sexually by conjugation, or the fusion of the entire ...
After fertilisation, the immature sporophyte pushes its way out of the archegonial venter. It takes several months for the sporophyte to mature. The sporophyte body comprises a long stalk, called a seta, and a capsule capped by a cap called the operculum. The capsule and operculum are in turn sheathed by a haploid calyptra which is the remains ...