294 



GENERAL BOTANY 



The male gametes swarm down the opened neck canal of the 

 archegonium as in Ricciocarpus, and the egg cell is fertilized by 

 one successful male gamete. The zygote which results, like that 

 of RictiocarpviS, forms an outer cell wall and begins to germinate 

 without passing through a resting period. 



Sporophyte. The embryo (Fig. 164, a) which results from the 

 early divisions of the zygote cell resembles somewhat the young 

 embryo sporophyte of Ricciocarpus. Elongation of this cellular 

 embryo then begins, resulting in a rodlike structure which carries 



Archegonia Sperms. 



es Anaier idium 



# 



/ 



^c 

 FIG. 163. Male and female plants and sex organs of a dioecious moss, Funaria 



a, female plant with reproductive bud; b, archegonia (left, young archegonium 

 with egg and canal cells ; right, older archegonium with egg in the venter) ; c, male 

 plant with group of antheridia forming antheridial disk at apex of plant ; d, 

 group of antheridia and paraphyses; e, mature antheridium expelling sperms; 

 /, sperms with flagella 



the old archegonium wall upon its apex like a cap, the wall 

 cells having separated from the plant at the base of the venter 

 (Fig. 164, c and d). This rodlike cellular zygote grows not only 

 upward but downward as well, so that it bores with its basal 

 end into the tissues of the leafy moss plant, from which it now 

 draws its food and water like a parasite. After it has become 

 established in the leafy gametophyte plant, the rod begins to 

 enlarge in its upper part to form the rudimentary spore case 

 known as the moss capsule, while its lower part is converted into 

 a strong, flexible rod called the seta. This spore case, or capsule, 

 although at first composed of simple, undifferentiated cells, soon 

 becomes differentiated into a complex cellular organ for the pro- 

 duction of spores. In many mosses the outer cell layers of the 



