antheridium
/ˌanθəˈrɪdɪəm
/noun (plural antheridia /ˌanθəˈrɪdɪə/) Botany
The male sex organ of algae, mosses, ferns, fungi, and other non-flowering plants.Since the asexual gametophyte does not form antheridia or archegonia, crosses to confirm its genotype could not be performed....
- The receptacles are reproductive branches and contain many cavities with external pores which contain antheridia and oogonia, then through meiosis, sperm and egg are produced.
- Notwithstanding their general similarity, the archegonia of mosses differ externally from antheridia in having a longer neck and longer stalk.
Derivatives
antheridial
- The oogonial initial penetrates the antheridial initial and rapidly expands to form the oogonium.
- Studies on development of antheridia and antheridial dehiscence have been conducted by Davie and Hartman.
- The latter are much more abundant in the antheridial tufts, where they have somewhat swollen heads.
Origin
Mid 19th century: modern Latin, from anthera (see anther) + -idium (from the Greek diminutive suffix -idion).