sporangium
Americannoun
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sporangia
plural
noun
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sporangia
plural
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A cell or structure in which spores are produced. Ferns, fungi, mosses, and algae release spores from sporangia.
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Also called spore case
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sporangium
1815–25; < New Latin, equivalent to spor- spor- + Greek angeîon vessel
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Then something magical happens: The fungus stops eating and rearranges itself into a giant stalk with a ball of cells — a sporangium — on top.
From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2021
The moss sporangium is a complex structure that allows release of spores away from the parent plant.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Its sporangium grows inside, and then explodes out of, the insect’s head.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2014
The sporangium, the multicellular sexual reproductive structure, is present in bryophytes.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 25, 2013
Sometimes also this upper extension of the hypothalline protoplasm passes beyond or behind the base of the sporangium or between two or more, and is more or less embraced by these in their confluent flexures.
From The North American Slime-Moulds A Descriptive List of All Species of Myxomycetes Hitherto Reported from the Continent of North America, with Notes on Some Extra-Limital Species by Thomas H. (Thomas Huston) MacBride
The mature sporophyte produces sporangia, completing the cycle.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Haploid spores are produced by meiosis within the sporangia, and spores can be disseminated through the air or water to potentially land in more favorable environments.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Part B is a micrograph of long, thread-like mycelia and small, oval sporangia.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Spores are released when the sporangia burst open, completing the cycle.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
“In the early stages of growth, before the appearance of the sporangia, the interrupted fern is easily confused with the cinnamon fern. Luckily, there are several ways the careful observer might tell them apart....”
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
