Sporangium

File:Mature sporangium of a Mucor sp. fungus.jpg

Mature sporangium of a Absidia mould

Moss sporangia (capsules)

Sporangia (sori) on a fern leaf

Equisetum arvense strobilus cut open to reveal sporangia

A sporangium (pl: sporangia) ^[1]^[2] is an enclosure in which spores are formed.^[3] It can be a single cell or multicellular. All plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cycle. Sporangia can produce asexual spores by mitosis, but in nearly all land plants and many fungi, sporangia are the site of meiosis, and produce genetically unique haploid spores.

In flowering plants the sporangium tissue (except the epidermis) that produces the female spores is also called the nucellus.^[4]

Sporangium Media

Fern sporangia in Saratoga CA.jpg

Clusters of sporangia on a fern
Fern sporangia.jpg

Scanning electron micrograph of fern leptosporangia

References

↑ modern Latin, from Greek spora ‘spore’ + angeion ‘vessel'.
↑ also known as sporanges (sing., sporange) Oxford [1]^{[dead link]}
↑ Rost, Barbour, Stocking, Murphy, 2006. Plant biology. 2nd ed, Thompson Brooks/Cole.
↑ Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, Glossary, retrieved 10 May 2015

[1] rn Latin, from Greek spora ‘spore’ + angeion ‘vessel'.

[2] so known as sporanges (sing., sporange) Oxford [1]^{[dead link]}

[3] Rost, Barbour, Stocking, Murphy, 2006. Plant biology. 2nd ed, Thompson Brooks/Cole.

[4] Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, Glossary, retrieved 10 May 2015

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