Oophore

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Oophore \O"o*phore\, n. [Gr. ? egg-bearing; w,'o`n an egg +
     fe`rein to bear.] (Bot.)
     An alternately produced form of certain cryptogamous plants,
     as ferns, mosses, and the like, which bears antheridia and
     archegonia, and so has sexual fructification, as contrasted
     with the {sporophore}, which is nonsexual, but produces


     spores in countless number. In ferns the oophore is a minute
     prothallus; in mosses it is the leafy plant.
     [1913 Webster]