Definition of archegonium in English:
archegonium
nounPlural archegonia ˌɑːkɪˈɡəʊnɪəmˌärkəˈɡōnēəm
Botany The female sex organ in mosses, liverworts, ferns, and most conifers.
Example sentencesExamples
- Lastly, archegonia are always absent in angiosperms.
- Notwithstanding their general similarity, the archegonia of mosses differ externally from antheridia in having a longer neck and longer stalk.
- This is a new feature and contrasts with most free-sporing plants in which sperm, rather than the whole microgametophyte, move to the archegonia.
- Dispersed by wind, these small spores germinate into small, freeliving, disc-shaped gametophytes that produce either archegonia - organs in which egg cells are formed - or sperm-producing antheridia.
- Antheridia formed on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the wing, while archegonia formed on the ventral surface of the anterior cushion.
Origin
Mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek arkhegonos, from arkhe- 'chief' + gonos 'race'.