Glossary Details – French Guianan E-Flora Project

Glossary Details:

Title: Fern life cycle. drawing by M. Sashital.

Description: Drawing of a homosporous fern\s life cycle. The dominant part of the life cycle, i.e., the plant that is recognized as a fern, represents the sporophyte generation. The gametophyte generation includes the phase of the life cycle between the formation of spores by meiosis and fertilization and formation of the zygote. The imaginary fern shown here has only one type of spore and is, thus, homosporous, i.e., the spores that produce male and female gametophytes are morphological identical.

Term:

Fern life cycle

Definition:

Referring to the alternation of generations between the gameophyte (haploid) and sporophyte (diploid) stages of a fern. The most conspicuous stage of the life cycle is the sporophyte generation whereas the gametophyte generation is small and inconspicuous.