antheridium

American  

[an-thuh-rid-ee-uhm] / ˌæn θəˈrɪd i əm /

noun

Botany, Mycology.

• antheridia
  plural

1. a male reproductive structure producing gametes, occurring in ferns, mosses, fungi, and algae.

---

antheridium British  

/ ˌænθəˈrɪdɪəm /

noun

1. the male sex organ of algae, fungi, bryophytes, and spore-bearing vascular plants, such as ferns, which produces antherozoids

---

antheridium Scientific  

/ ăn′thə-rĭd′ē-əm /

• antheridia
  plural

1. 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.

2. Compare archegonium

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antheridial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• antheridia
  plural

Etymology

Origin of antheridium

From New Latin, dating back to 1850–55; see origin at anther, -idium

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

antheridium antheridia

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

At fertilization, the antheridium and the ascogonium combine in plasmogamy without nuclear fusion.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

The sperm need all the help they can get in moving toward the egg, seldom travelling more than four inches from the structure called an antheridium that produced them.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 28, 2012

Each antheridium or archegonium arises from a single cell, and while the mature structure is similar in the two groups, the development presents differences in liverworts and mosses.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" by Various

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

Male antheridia and female archegonia grow at the tip of the stem.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Male sex organs called antheridia produce sperm, and female sex organs called archegonia produce eggs.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Cryptogamous plants with a distinct axis or stem, growing from the apex, and commonly not with later increase in diameter, usually furnished with distinct leaves; reproduction by antheridia and archegonia, sometimes also by gemmation.

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 Asa Gray