Table of Contents
Is a seed a sporophyte or gametophyte?
The nutritive tissues inside the seed are actually the haploid body cells of the female gametophyte. The seed also contains the developing diploid sporophyte, the little embryonic conifer. The outer wrapping of the seed, the tough and protective seed coat, is formed from the diploid cells of the parent sporophyte.
What are Sporophytes made of?
A sporophyte (/ˈspɔːr. əˌfaɪt/) is the diploid multicellular stage in the life cycle of a plant or alga. It develops from the zygote produced when a haploid egg cell is fertilized by a haploid sperm and each sporophyte cell therefore has a double set of chromosomes, one set from each parent.
Do seeds protect the sporophyte embryo?
Unlike bryophyte and fern spores (which are haploid cells dependent on moisture for rapid development of gametophytes ), seeds contain a diploid embryo that will germinate into a sporophyte. Storage tissue to sustain growth and a protective coat give seeds their superior evolutionary advantage.
What kind of plant has a protective covering around its seeds?
Angiosperms — Flowering Seed Plants (Covered Seed Plants) Angiosperms are plants that have seeds encased in a protective covering. That covering is the ovary; it is the part of the flower structure. It distinguishes angiosperms from gymnosperms, the other seed plants.
What do Sporophytes look like?
The sporophyte generation is visible to the naked eye while the gametophyte is microscopic. A fern is a group of plants that reproduce by means of spores. There are more than 10,000 living species that belong to this group. Unlike mosses, they have vascular bundles, leaves, and stems.
Where do Sporophytes grow?
A sporophyte is a multicellular diploid generation found in plants and algae that undergo alternation of generations. It produces haploid spores that develop into a gametophyte.
What protects the embryo and the food store?
Cotyledons protects embryo and food store.
What’s seed covering called?
seed coat
The outer covering of a seed is called the seed coat. Seed coats help protect the embryo from injury and also from drying out. Seed coats can be thin and soft as in beans or thick and hard as in locust or coconut seeds.
How are seeds protected?
Seeds are protected by a coat. This coat can be thin or thick and hard. The seed also contains a short-term food supply called the endosperm which is formed at fertilization but is not part of the embryo. It is used by the embryo to help its growth.
What kind of plant has a sporophyte body plan?
The early vascular plants (tracheophytes) of the Silurian and Early Devonian, usually classified as rhyniophytes, zosterophylls, and trimerophytes ( Kenrick and Crane, 1997 ), have sporophyte body plans very similar to that of bryophytes.
What are the gametophytes of a seed plant?
Megaspores develop into female gametophytes that produce eggs, and microspores mature into male gametophytes that generate sperm. Because the gametophytes mature within the spores, they are not free-living, as are the gametophytes of other seedless vascular plants.
What kind of spores does a seed plant produce?
Whereas lower vascular plants, such as club mosses and ferns, are mostly homosporous (producing only one type of spore), all seed plants, or spermatophytes, are heterosporous, producing two types of spores: megaspores (female) and microspores (male).
Why are heterosporous seed plants not free living?
Because the gametophytes mature within the spores, they are not free-living, as are the gametophytes of other seedless vascular plants. Ancestral heterosporous seedless plants, represented by modern-day plants such as the spike moss Selaginella, are seen as the evolutionary forerunners of seed plants.