Heterosporous in the context of "Microsporophyll"

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⭐ Core Definition: Heterosporous

Heterospory is the production of spores of two different sizes and sexes by the sporophytes of land plants. The smaller of these, the microspore, is male and the larger megaspore is female. Heterospory evolved during the Devonian period from isospory independently in several plant groups: the clubmosses, the ferns including the arborescent horsetails, and progymnosperms. This occurred as part of the process of evolution of the timing of sex differentiation. Four extant groups of plants are heterosporous; Selaginella, Isoetes, Salviniales and seed plants.

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👉 Heterosporous in the context of Microsporophyll

In botany, a sporophyll is a leaf that bears sporangia. Both microphylls and megaphylls can be sporophylls. In heterosporous plants, sporophylls (whether they are microphylls or megaphylls) bear either megasporangia and thus are called megasporophylls, or microsporangia and are called microsporophylls. The overlap of the prefixes and roots makes these terms a particularly confusing subset of botanical nomenclature.

Sporophylls vary greatly in appearance and structure, and may or may not look similar to sterile leaves. Plants that produce sporophylls include:

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Heterosporous in the context of Megaspore

Megaspores, also called macrospores, are a type of spore that is present in heterosporous plants. These plants have two spore types, megaspores and microspores. Generally speaking, the megaspore, or large spore, germinates into a female gametophyte, which produces egg cells. These are fertilized by sperm produced by the male gametophyte developing from the microspore. Heterosporous plants include seed plants (gymnosperms and flowering plants), water ferns (Salviniales), spikemosses (Selaginellaceae) and quillworts (Isoetaceae).

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Heterosporous in the context of Salviniaceae

Salviniaceae (/sælˌvɪniˈeɪsiˌiː/), is a family of heterosporous ferns in the order Salviniales. The Salviniaceae contain the two genera Azolla and Salvinia, with about 20 known species in total. The oldest records of the family date to the Late Cretaceous. Azolla was previously placed in its own family, Azollaceae, but research has shown Azolla and Salvinia to be sister genera with the likely phylogenic relationship shown in the following diagram.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Megaspore ← Salviniaceae ← Microsporophyll
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Pinophyta → Spores → Sporophyte → Land plants → Microspore → Megaspore → Devonian → Isospory → Lycopodiopsida → Fern → Equisetopsida → Progymnosperm → Evolution → Sexual differentiation → Selaginella → Isoetes → Salviniales → Seed plant →