sporangia

(noun)

an enclosure in which spores are formed (also called a fruiting body)

Related Terms

Examples of sporangia in the following topics:

  • Sporophytes and Gametophytes in Seedless Plants

    • The sporophyte bears the sporangia (singular, sporangium): organs that first appeared in the land plants .
    • The term "sporangia" literally means "spore in a vessel": it is a reproductive sac that contains spores.
    • Inside the multicellular sporangia, the diploid sporocytes, or mother cells, produce haploid spores by meiosis, where the 2n chromosome number is reduced to 1n (note that many plant sporophytes are polyploid: for example, durum wheat is tetraploid, bread wheat is hexaploid, and some ferns are 1000-ploid).
    • The spores are later released by the sporangia and disperse in the environment.
    • Spore-producing sacs called sporangia grow at the ends of long, thin stalks in this photo of the moss Esporangios bryum.

  • Zygomycota: The Conjugated Fungi

    • The black tips of bread mold, Rhizopus stolonifer, are the swollen sporangia packed with black spores .
    • Sporangia grow at the end of stalks, which appear as (a) white fuzz seen on this bread mold, Rhizopus stolonifer.
    • The (b) tips of bread mold are the spore-containing sporangia.

  • Characteristics of Gymnosperms

    • Their sporangia (receptacle in which asexual spores are formed) are found on sporophylls, plated scale-like structures that together make up cones.
    • The female gametophyte develops from the haploid (meaning one set of genetic material) spores that are contained within the sporangia.

  • Ferns and Other Seedless Vascular Plants

    • Photosynthesis takes place in their green stems; small yellow knobs form at the tip of the branch stem and contain the sporangia.
    • On the underside of its mature fronds, sori (singular, sorus) form as small clusters where sporangia develop .
    • In the club mosses such as Lycopodium clavatum, sporangia are arranged in clusters called strobili.

  • Protist Life Cycles and Habitats

    • Upon maturation, the plasmodium takes on a net-like appearance with the ability to form fruiting bodies, or sporangia, during times of stress.
    • Meiosis produces haploid spores within the sporangia.

  • Amoebozoa and Opisthokonta

    • Upon maturation, the plasmodium takes on a net-like appearance with the ability to form fruiting bodies, or sporangia, during times of stress .
    • Haploid spores are produced by meiosis within the sporangia.

  • Evolution of Land Plants

    • Imprints of Cooksonia show slender, branching stems ending in what appear to be sporangia.