TransWikia.com

Are bryophyte sporangia multicellular?

Biology Asked by Lesya on December 8, 2020

My research on the matter can be summarized in a sentence: "It [sporangium] can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular" (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporangium). Yet there shouldn’t be a reply placed between "They are" and "They aren’t" test options, speaking of "Are bryophyte sporangia multicellular?". A link to the source where I could ascertain whether the bryophyte sporangia is multicellular (if I could ascertain) is highly appreciated.

One Answer

In Embryophyta (land plants), including bryophytes, the sporangium is usually a multicellular structure.

Life cycle of a hornwort. The dehisced sporangium is shown releasing spores and elaters.

Perhaps you meant to ask about the number of spore mother cells (SMCs) in each sporangium? That varies across groups. In bryophytes, each sporangium has many SMCs, and accordingly produces a large number of spores. (Contrast this with angiosperms, where a megasporangium [called an ovule] has only one megaspore mother cell.)


References and further reading:

  1. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/bryophytes/

  2. https://www.britannica.com/science/plant-development

Image attribution:

By LadyofHats. (Public domain; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hornwort_structures.jpg)

Correct answer by Adhish on December 8, 2020

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question

Get help from others!

© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP