Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In bryophytes and other cryptogams, sperm reach the archegonium by swimming in water films, whereas in Pinophyta and angiosperms, the pollen are delivered by wind or animal vectors and the sperm are delivered by means of a pollen tube. [citation needed] Gene expression pattern determined by histochemical GUS assays in Physcomitrella patens
Archegoniatae was a higher taxonomic term that indicated those embryophytes having a female sexual organ in the form of an archegonium.The term was first introduced by the Russian botanist Ivan Nikolaevich Gorozhankin (1848–1904) in 1876 to indicate a division including bryophytes, pteridophytes and gymnosperms in contrast to the Gynoeciatae (Angiosperms) with a more complex female organ.
The typical bryophyte archegonium consists of a long neck with a wider base containing the egg cell. Upon maturation, the neck opens to allow sperm cells to swim into the archegonium and fertilize the egg. The resulting zygote then gives rise to an embryo, which will grow into a new diploid individual, known as a sporophyte.
The female counterpart to the antheridium in cryptogams is the archegonium, and in flowering plants is the gynoecium. An antheridium typically consists of sterile cells and spermatogenous tissue. The sterile cells may form a central support structure or surround the spermatogenous tissue as a protective jacket.
However, the parent sporophyte may be monoecious, producing both male and female gametophytes or dioecious, producing gametophytes of one gender only. Seed plant gametophytes are extremely reduced in size; the archegonium consists only of a small number of cells, and the entire male gametophyte may be represented by only two cells. [27]
Bryophytes are characteristically limited in size and prefer moist habitats although some species can survive in drier environments. [4] The bryophytes consist of about 20,000 plant species. [5] [6] Bryophytes produce enclosed reproductive structures (gametangia and sporangia), but they do not produce flowers or seeds.
Antheridia are common in the gametophytes in "lower" plants such as bryophytes, ferns, cycads and ginkgo. In "higher" plants such as conifers and flowering plants, they are replaced by pollen grains .
Bryophytes have life cycles that are gametophyte dominated. The longer lived, more prominent autotrophic plant is the gametophyte. The sporophyte in mosses and liverworts consists of an unbranched stalk (a seta) bearing a single sporangium or spore-producing capsule. Even when capable of photosynthesis, as in mosses and hornworts, bryophyte ...