antheridium
Americannoun
plural
antheridia-
a male reproductive structure producing gametes, occurring in ferns, mosses, fungi, and algae.
noun
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the male sex organ of algae, fungi, bryophytes, and spore-bearing vascular plants, such as ferns, which produces antherozoids
plural
antheridia-
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
Other Word Forms
- antheridial adjective
Etymology
Origin of antheridium
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.
In a process called plasmogamy, the ascogonium and antheridium fuse to form a cell with multiple haploid nuclei.
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
The “male” strain produces an antheridium and the “female” strain develops an ascogonium.
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
In Cystopus Bliti the oosphere contains numerous nuclei, and all the male nuclei from the antheridium pass into it, the male and female nuclei then fusing in pairs.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3 "Frost" to "Fyzabad" by Various
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.