A fertilized ovule. A seed consists of an embryonic sporophyte embedded within parent sporophytic tissues and surrounded by one or more integuments, which comprise the seed coat. A group or cluster of sporangia in ferns. Generally, a unicellular haploid phase in the lifecycle of land plants and some algae. In organisms with alternation of generations , spores are produced in the sporangia of the sporophyte via meiosis.
Spores act as units of dispersal in the non-seed land plants.
A modified leaf bearing one or more sporangia, generaly referring to the component structures of a strobilus. The diploid , spore -producing generation in plants with alternation of generations . In liverworts, mosses, and hornworts, the sporophyte is completely dependent on the gametophyte . In Lycophytes, ferns, and horsetails, sporophytes and gametophytes are generally independent and free-living. In the seed plants, the sporophyte is the dominant stage in the life cycle, and the gametophytes are highly reduced and dependent on the sporophyte.