The New Student's Reference Work/Sporangium
Sporangium (spō̇-răn′jĭ-ŭm), an organ of
plants which produces asexual spores. In
SPORANGIUM
OF A MOULD
the thallophytes a sporangium
is usually a single cell; but in
the higher plants it is a
many-celled organ. The sporangia
of ferns and the pollen-sacs of
seed-plants are illustrations of
many-celled sporangia. In
heterosporous plants sporangia
become differentiated, the
microsporangia producing
microspores, and the megasporangia
producing megaspores. In
seed-plants the pollen-sacs are
microsporangia, and the ovules
are megasporangia.