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Sporeling
 
 
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A sporeling is a young plant or fungus produced by a germinated spore
Spore

In biology, a spore is a reproduction structure that is adapted for biological dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions....
, similar to a seedling
Seedling

A seedling is a young plant sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed....
 derived from a germinated seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
. They occur in algae, 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 ....
, lichen
Lichen

Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiosis association of a fungus with a Photosynthesis partner , usually either a green algae or Cyanobacteria ....
s, 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 and seedless vascular plant
Pteridophyte

The pteridophytes are vascular plants that neither flower nor produce seeds, hence they are called vascular cryptogams. Instead, they reproduce and disperse only via spores....
s.

spores germinate by first producing a germ-rhizoid
Rhizoid

Rhizoids are a structure in plants, fungi and some other organisms that functions like a root in support or absorption.In fungi, rhizoids are small branching hyphae that grow downwards from the stolons that anchor the fungus....
 or holdfast
Holdfast

A holdfast is a root-like structure that anchors aquatic animal Sessility organisms, such as seaweed, other sessile algae, stalked crinoids, benthic cnidarians, and sponges, to the substrate. ...
 followed by a germ tube emerging from the opposite end. The germ tube develops into the hypha
Hypha

A hypha is a long, branching filamentous cell of a fungus, and also of unrelated Actinobacteria. In fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium....
, protonema
Protonema

A protonema is a thread-like chain of cells that forms the earliest stage of a bryophyte life cycle. When a moss or Marchantiophyta first grows from the spore, it grows as a protonema which develops into a leafy gametophore....
 or thallus
Thallus (tissue)

File:Sargassum weeds closeup.jpgThallus, from Latinized Greek language ?a???? , meaning a green shoot or twig, is an cellular differentiation vegetative tissue of some non-mobile organisms, which were previously known as the thallophytes....
 of 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:...
.

In seedless vascular plants such as 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 lycopodiophyta
Lycopodiophyta

The Division Lycopodiophyta is a vascular plant subdivision of the Kingdom Plantae. It is the oldest extant vascular plant division at around 420 million years old, and includes some of the most "primitive" extant species....
, the term "sporeling" refers to the young sporophyte
Sporophyte

All land plants, and some algae, have life cycles in which a haploid gametophyte generation alternates with a diploid sporophyte, the generation of a plant or alga that has a double set of chromosomes....
 growing on the gametophyte.






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Encyclopedia


A sporeling is a young plant or fungus produced by a germinated spore
Spore

In biology, a spore is a reproduction structure that is adapted for biological dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions....
, similar to a seedling
Seedling

A seedling is a young plant sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed....
 derived from a germinated seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
. They occur in algae, 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 ....
, lichen
Lichen

Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiosis association of a fungus with a Photosynthesis partner , usually either a green algae or Cyanobacteria ....
s, 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 and seedless vascular plant
Pteridophyte

The pteridophytes are vascular plants that neither flower nor produce seeds, hence they are called vascular cryptogams. Instead, they reproduce and disperse only via spores....
s.

Sporeling development

Most spores germinate by first producing a germ-rhizoid
Rhizoid

Rhizoids are a structure in plants, fungi and some other organisms that functions like a root in support or absorption.In fungi, rhizoids are small branching hyphae that grow downwards from the stolons that anchor the fungus....
 or holdfast
Holdfast

A holdfast is a root-like structure that anchors aquatic animal Sessility organisms, such as seaweed, other sessile algae, stalked crinoids, benthic cnidarians, and sponges, to the substrate. ...
 followed by a germ tube emerging from the opposite end. The germ tube develops into the hypha
Hypha

A hypha is a long, branching filamentous cell of a fungus, and also of unrelated Actinobacteria. In fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium....
, protonema
Protonema

A protonema is a thread-like chain of cells that forms the earliest stage of a bryophyte life cycle. When a moss or Marchantiophyta first grows from the spore, it grows as a protonema which develops into a leafy gametophore....
 or thallus
Thallus (tissue)

File:Sargassum weeds closeup.jpgThallus, from Latinized Greek language ?a???? , meaning a green shoot or twig, is an cellular differentiation vegetative tissue of some non-mobile organisms, which were previously known as the thallophytes....
 of 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:...
.

In seedless vascular plants such as 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 lycopodiophyta
Lycopodiophyta

The Division Lycopodiophyta is a vascular plant subdivision of the Kingdom Plantae. It is the oldest extant vascular plant division at around 420 million years old, and includes some of the most "primitive" extant species....
, the term "sporeling" refers to the young sporophyte
Sporophyte

All land plants, and some algae, have life cycles in which a haploid gametophyte generation alternates with a diploid sporophyte, the generation of a plant or alga that has a double set of chromosomes....
 growing on the gametophyte. These sporelings develop via an embryo stage from a fertilized egg inside an 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....
 and depend on 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:...
 for their early stages of growth before becoming independent sporophytes. Young fern sporelings can often be found with the prothallus gametophyte still attached at the base of their frond
Frond

A frond is a large leaf with many divisions to it, and the term is typically used for the leaves of Arecaceaes, ferns or cycads. A frond is the leaf- like structure of a fern or alga....
s.

External links

  • British Pteridological Society: (contains a picture of a sporeling fern attached to the prothallus)