antheridium
Americannoun
noun
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An organ in certain organisms that produces male gametes. Antheridia are found in many groups of organisms, including the bryophytes, ferns, ascomycete fungi, and some algae. Most gymnosperms and all angiosperms, however, have lost the antheridium, and its role is filled by the pollen grain.
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Compare archegonium
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Etymology
Origin of antheridium
From New Latin, dating back to 1850–55; see origin at anther, -idium
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:
At fertilization, the antheridium and the ascogonium combine in plasmogamy without nuclear fusion.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Flagellated sperm released from the antheridium swim on a wet surface to the archegonium, where the egg is fertilized.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
In a process called plasmogamy, the ascogonium and antheridium fuse to form a cell with multiple haploid nuclei.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Once released from the antheridium, the clock begins to count down their survival probability.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 28, 2012
One of the minute organs developed in an antheridium, corresponding to pollen-grains.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa
Sperm are produced in antheridia and need standing water to swim to the eggs to form a diploid zygote.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2018
The sperm and eggs are produced on gametophytes in antheridia and archegonia, and fertilization requires a thin film of water, so that the sperm can swim to the eggs.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2018
The gametophyte contains antheridia that produce, sperm and archegonia that produce eggs.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Male antheridia and female archegonia grow at the tip of the stem.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Stems 1–2´ long, procumbent, sparsely branching; leaves pale green, ovate-triangular, acutely 2-toothed, the teeth oblique with a lunulate sinus; monœcious; perianth oblong-triangular, lacinate; antheridia 2–3 in a cluster, axillary.—On rocks in shady rills; not common.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa
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.
