A sporangium (pl., sporangia) is a plant or fungal structure producing and containing spores. Sporangia occur on angiosperms, gymnosperms, ferns, fern allies, mosses, algae, and fungi. Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern... Divisions Chytridiomycota Deuteromycota Zygomycota Glomeromycota Ascomycota Basidiomycota Fungus growing on a tree in Borneo A fungus (plural fungi) is a eukaryotic organism that digests its food externally and absorbs the nutrient molecules into its cells. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also called angiosperms) are a major group of land plants. ... Coast Douglas-fir cone, from a tree grown from seed collected by David Douglas Gymnosperms are seed-bearing, vascular plants. ... Classes Marattiopsida Osmundopsida Gleicheniopsida Pteridopsida A fern, or pteridophyte, is any one of a group of some twenty thousand species of plants classified in the Division Pteridophyta, formerly known as Filicophyta. ... Fern ally is a general term covering a somewhat diverse group of vascular plants that are not flowering plants and not true ferns. ... Subclasses Sphagnidae Andreaeidae Tetraphidae Polytrichidae Archidiidae Buxbaumiidae Bryidae Moss gametophyte generation plants with a single sporophyte. ... A seaweed (Laurencia) up close: the branches are multicellular and only about 1 mm thick. ... Divisions Chytridiomycota Deuteromycota Zygomycota Glomeromycota Ascomycota Basidiomycota Fungus growing on a tree in Borneo A fungus (plural fungi) is a eukaryotic organism that digests its food externally and absorbs the nutrient molecules into its cells. ...

Microsporangia are the structures on the stamens of flowers called anthers, and the pollen-producing structures on the microsporophylls of male conifer cones. Clivia miniata bears bright orange flowers. ... Flower of the spider tree (Crateva religiosa) with its numerous conspicuous stamens The stamen is the male organ of a flower. ... A cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta (conifers) that contains the reproductive structures. ...

Megasporangia are the comparable "female" structures on these plants, associated with the flower carpel and the megasporangial cone. Amaryllis style and stigmas A carpel is the female reproductive organ of a flower; the basic unit of the gynoecium. ...

On ferns, the mature plant is a sporophyte that develops sporangia, tiny, stalked sacs which contain meiospores, on all or just certain leaves (called sporophylls if sporangia are present). Classes Marattiopsida Osmundopsida Gleicheniopsida Pteridopsida A fern, or pteridophyte, is any one of a group of some twenty thousand species of plants classified in the Division Pteridophyta, formerly known as Filicophyta. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

In mosses, the little case that rises above the vegetative growth on a thin stalk is a sporangium often called a capsule that, as in ferns, produces meiospores. This sporophytic (diploid) growth arises out of the gametophytic (haploid) archegonium after the ovum is fertilized. The sporophyte initially has some chlorophyll, but later turns brown and becomes dependent upon the gametophyte for nutrition, which is absorbed through the foot (base of the stalk), embedded in the archegonial tissues. The word capsule (from the Latin capsula, a small box), has many similar meanings in English: In botany, a capsule is a type of dry fruit as in the poppy, iris, foxglove, etc. ... A sporophyte is the diploid structure or phase of life of a sexually reproducing plant. ... Diploid (meaning double in Greek) cells have two copies (homologs) of each chromosome (both sex- and non-sex determining chromosomes), usually one from the mother and one from the father. ... A gametophyte is the haploid structure or phase of life of a sexually reproducing plant. ... Haploid (meaning simple in Greek) cells have only one copy of each chromosome. ... An archegonium (pl: archegonia) (from the Greek arche = beginning and gonos = born) is a multicellular structure or organ of the gametophyte phase of certain plants producing and containing the ovum or female gamete. ... Chlorophyll is a green photosynthetic pigment found in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. ...

Categorized based on developmental sequence, eusporangia and leptosporangia are differentiated in the vascular plants. In a leptosporangium, found only in ferns, development involves a single initial cell that becomes the stalk, wall, and spores within the sporangium. There are around 64 spores in a leptosporangium. In a eusporangium, characteristic of all other vascular plants and some primitive ferns, the initials are in a layer (i.e., more than one). A eusporangium is larger (hence contain more spores), and its wall is multi-layered. Although the wall may be stretched and damaged, resulting in only one cell-layer remaining.

A cluster of sporangia that have become fused in development is called a synangium. This structure is most prominent in Psilotum. Species Psilotum nudum (L.) Beauvois Psilotum complanatum Sw. ...

• See also: archegonium, antheridium
• For bacteria-related information see endospore