Question

What are antheridia and archegonia?

Answer 1

Hint: Antheridia is the male sex organ and is a haploid structure whose function is to generate male gametes known as sperms or antherozoids. Archegonia is the female sex organ, which generates female gametes mostly in cryptogams. It is responsible for the generation of female gametes that are ova or egg cells.

Complete step-by-step answer:
Antheridia are the male sex organs of the pteridophytes and bryophytes, though archegonia are the female sex organs. The antheridium is a globose, stalked, or somewhat elliptic structure having an external sterile one cell thick jacket that surrounds the solid mass of fertile cells, the androcytes while the archegonium is a flask-shaped structure with a basal swollen venter and the upper thin neck.

Gametophyte generation is dominant in most nonvascular plants like algae, conifers, liverworts, and bryophytes. These organisms demonstrate the alteration of generations and produce female and male gametophytes for the production of female and male gametes for sexual reproduction. The female sex organ of the female gametophyte is the archegonium. Archegonia are found in the gynoecium, and they produce female gametes. The male sex organ of the male gametophyte is referred to as the antheridium. Archegonia are present in the gynoecium, and they generate female gametes. Antheridia generate a large number of sperms that are motile even though archegonia generate a single ovule at each archegonium, and those ovules are non-motile.

Note: Archegonium and antheridium are the two kinds of reproductive organs in cryptogams. In general, cryptogams contain thallophytes, bryophytes, and pteridophytes. They are subjected to a ‘hidden reproduction’ through the production of spores, without seeds or flowers.