Plant reproductive morphology be identical isospores or come in different sizes (microspores and megaspores), but strictly speaking, spores and sporophytes are neither male nor female because they do not produce gametes. The alternate generation, the gametophyte, produces gametes, eggs and/or sperm. A gametophyte can be monoicous (bisexual), producing both eggs and sperm or dioicous (unisexual), either female (producing eggs) or male (producing sperm). In the bryophytes (liverworts, mosses and hornworts), the sexual gametophyte is the dominant generation. In ferns and seed plants (including cycads, conifers, flowering plants, etc.) the sporophyte is the dominant generation. The obvious visible plant, whether a small herb or
Sporocarp (ferns) Sporocarp (ferns) A sporocarp is a specialised type of structure found in some ferns whose primary function is the production and release of spores. Among ferns, sporocarps are found only in the three families of the order Salviniales, a group that is both aquatic and heterosporous. The term actually refers to two very different structures. In the Azollaceae and Salviniaceae, the sporocarp is nothing more than a modified sorus, a single cluster of spore-producing tissues enclosed by a thin sphere of tissue and attached to the leaves. In the Marsileaceae (water-clover family), however, the sporocarp is a more elaborate structure