Plant Reproduction Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary terms and concepts related to plant reproduction, including vegetative reproduction, alternation of generations, moss reproduction, fern reproduction, and conifer reproduction.

Vegetative Reproduction

A form of asexual reproduction in which new plants grow from parts of an existing plant; the new plants are clones that are identical to the original plants.

Stolons

Stems of strawberry plants from which new strawberry plants can grow through vegetative reproduction.

Alternation of Generation

The life cycle of a plant that includes a diploid (2n) sporophyte and a haploid (n) gametophyte.

Sporophyte

The diploid (2n) generation in plants that produces haploid spores.

Gametophyte

The haploid (n) generation in plants that produces haploid gametes (eggs and sperms).

Archegonium

The structure in mosses that produces one or more eggs surrounded by a protective layer.

Antheridium

The structure in mosses that produces flagellated sperms that need water to swim toward the egg.

Chemotaxis

The process where archegonium releases chemicals that attract the sperms.

Zygote (in Mosses)

The first cell of the sporophyte formed when a sperm fertilizes the egg in mosses.

Protonema

A small thread-like structure that develops from released spores under favorable conditions in mosses, eventually developing into the gametophyte.

Fronds

Photosynthetic leaves that are part of the sporophyte stage in ferns.

Sori

Located on the underside of fern fronds, consisting of sporangia which are the spore-producing structures.

Prothallus

A tiny heart-shaped gametophyte that grows from spores in ferns.

Megaspore

Female spore in conifers that develops into the female gametophyte.

Microspore

Male spore in conifers that develops into the male gametophyte.

Ovule (in Conifers)

Structure at the base of each scale in female cones of conifers, within which meiosis of a cell in the megasporangium produces megaspores.

Pollen Grain

Develops from microspores in male cones of conifers, each consisting of four cells.

Pollination

The process when a pollen grain lands on the female reproductive structure of the same species.

Pollen Tube

A tube generated by the pollen grain following pollination that grows toward the micropyle and into the ovule.