Spore

Spore, spōr, n. the reproductive body in flowerless plants like the fern, analogous to the seeds of ordinary flowering plants, but containing no embryo: a germ, a seed, a source of being generally.—adjs. Sporan′gial; Sporangif′erous; Sporan′giform; Sporan′gioid, like a sporangium.—ns. Sporangī′olum, a small sporangium; Sporan′giophōre, the receptacle which bears the sporangia; Sporan′giospōre, one of the peculiar spores of the Myxomycetes; Sporan′gium (pl. Sporan′gia), a spore-case, the sac in which the spores are produced endogenously—also Spore′-case; Spō′ridesm (bot.), a pluricellular body which becomes free like a simple spore, and in which every cell is capable of germinating; Sporidī′olum, a secondary sporidium; Sporid′ium, a secondary spore borne on a promycelium: an ascospore; Sporificā′tion, spore-production; Sporipar′ity, reproduction by means of spores.—adj. Sporip′arous.—ns. Spō′rocarp, a many-celled form of fruit produced in certain lower cryptogams in consequence of a sexual act; Spō′rocyst, the cyst or capsule developed in the process of sporular encystment.—adj. Sporocyst′ic.—ns. Spō′roderm, the wall or covering of a spore; Sporogen′esis, reproduction by means of spores—also Sporog′eny.—adj. Sporog′enous.—n. Sporogō′nium, the sporocarp, capsule or so-called 'moss-fruit' in mosses.—adj. Spō′roid, like a spore.—ns. Sporol′ogist, a botanist who emphasises the spores in classification; Spō′rophore, the part of the thallus which bears spores: the placenta in flowering plants: a sporophyte.—adjs. Sporophor′ic, Sporoph′orous.—ns. Spō′rophyl, the leaf bearing the spores or spore receptacles; Spō′rophyte, the spore-bearing stage in the life-cycle of a plant.—adj. Sporophyt′ic.—ns. Spō′rosac, one of the gonophores of certain hydrozoans in which the medusoid structure is not developed: a redia or spiro-cyst, in Vermes; Sporostē′gium, the so-called fruit of plants in the Characeæ, consisting of the hard brownish spirally-twisted shell or covering of the spore.—adjs. Spō′rous; Spō′rular.—ns. Sporulā′tion, conversion into spores or sporules—also Sporā′tion; Spō′rule, a small spore.—adjs. Sporulif′erous, Spor′uloid. [Gr. sporos, a sowing, seed—speirein, to sow.]