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Antheridium

 
Antheridium

 
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An antheridium (plural: antheridia) is a haploid structure or organ producing and containing male gamete
Gamete

A gamete is a Cell that fuses with another gamete during fertilization in organisms that sexual reproduction. In species which produce two morphologically distinct types of gametes, and in which each individual produces only one type, a female is any individual which produces the larger type of gamete?called an ovum ?and a male produces th...
s (called antherozoids or sperm
Sperm

The term sperm is derived from the Greek word sperma and refers to the male reproductive Cell . In the types of sexual reproduction known as anisogamy and oogamy, there is a marked difference in the size of the gametes with the smaller one being termed the "male" or sperm cell....
). It is present in the gametophyte
Gametophyte

In plants and algae that undergo alternation of generations, a gametophyte is the multicellular structure, or phase, that is haploid, containing a single set of chromosomes:...
 phase of lower plants like moss
Moss

Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1?10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations....
es and fern
Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta....
s, and also in the primitive vascular psilotophytes.






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Antheridia
An antheridium (plural: antheridia) is a haploid structure or organ producing and containing male gamete
Gamete

A gamete is a Cell that fuses with another gamete during fertilization in organisms that sexual reproduction. In species which produce two morphologically distinct types of gametes, and in which each individual produces only one type, a female is any individual which produces the larger type of gamete?called an ovum ?and a male produces th...
s (called antherozoids or sperm
Sperm

The term sperm is derived from the Greek word sperma and refers to the male reproductive Cell . In the types of sexual reproduction known as anisogamy and oogamy, there is a marked difference in the size of the gametes with the smaller one being termed the "male" or sperm cell....
). It is present in the gametophyte
Gametophyte

In plants and algae that undergo alternation of generations, a gametophyte is the multicellular structure, or phase, that is haploid, containing a single set of chromosomes:...
 phase of lower plants like moss
Moss

Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1?10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations....
es and fern
Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta....
s, and also in the primitive vascular psilotophytes. Many algae and some fungi
Fungus

A fungus is a Eukaryote organism that is a member of the Kingdom Fungi . The fungi are a monophyletic group, also called the Eumycota , that is phylogeny distinct from the morphologically similar slime molds and water molds ....
, for example ascomycetes and water mould
Water mould

Oomycota also known as Water molds are a group of filamentous, unicellular Heterokonts, physically resembling fungus. They are microscopic, absorptive organisms that reproduce both sexually and asexually and are composed of mycelia, or a tube-like vegetative body ....
s, also have antheridia during their reproductive stages.

An antheridium typically consists of sterile cell
Cell (biology)

The cell is the structural and functional unit of all known Life organisms. It is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living, and is often called the building bricks of life....
s and spermatogenous tissue. The sterile cells may form a central support structure or surround the spermatogenous tissue as a protective jacket. The spermatogenous cells give rise to spermatids via mitotic cell division
Cell division

Cell division is a process by which a cell , called the parent cell, divides into two or more cells, called daughter cells. Cell division is usually a small segment of a larger cell cycle....
. In bryophyte
Bryophyte

Bryophytes are all embryophytes that are non-vascular plant: they have tissues and enclosed reproductive systems, but they lack vascular tissue that circulates liquids....
s, the antheridium is borne on an antheridiophore, a stalk-like structure that carries the antheridium at its top.

In many gymnosperm
Gymnosperm

Gymnosperm is a group of spermatophyte seed-bearing plants with ovules on scales, which are usually arranged in cone-like structures. The other major group of seed-bearing plants, the angiosperms, [from the Greek, 'angion' - container] have ovules enclosed in a carpel, a sporophyll with fused margins....
s and all angiosperms, the male gametophytes have been reduced to pollen grains
Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of Gametophyte , which produce the male gametes of spermatophyta. A hard coat covering the pollen grain protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens of the flower to the pistil of the next flower....
 and their antheridia have been reduced to a single generative cell within the pollen grain. During pollination
Pollination

Pollination in flowering plants and gymnosperms is the process that transfers pollen, which contain the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself....
, this generative cell divides and gives rise to two sperm nuclei.

The female counterpart to the antheridium is the archegonium
Archegonium

An archegonium , from the ancient Greek ???? and ????? , is a multicellular structure or organ of the gametophyte phase of certain plants producing and containing the ovum or female gamete....
.

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