antheridium
Americannoun
noun
-
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.
-
Compare archegonium
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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:
Flagellated sperm released from the antheridium swim on a wet surface to the archegonium, where the egg is fertilized.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
The “male” strain produces an antheridium and the “female” strain develops an ascogonium.
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
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
The antheridium undergoes no further change, but the archicarp soon divides into two cells,—a small basal one and a larger upper cell.
From Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany For High Schools and Elementary College Courses by Campbell, Douglas Houghton
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
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 gametophyte contains antheridia that produce, sperm and archegonia that produce eggs.
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
In studying the development of the antheridia, it is only necessary to mount the plants in water and examine them directly; but the study of the archegonia requires careful longitudinal sections of the prothallium.
From Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany For High Schools and Elementary College Courses by Campbell, Douglas Houghton
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.
