Tapetum
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tapetum
[tə′pēd·əm]Tapetum
a layer (occasionally several layers) of cells in the sporangia of the majority of higher plants; it is rich in nutrients and physiologically active substances. The tapetum may originate from the archespore, as in leptosporangiate ferns and selaginellas. It may be the inner layer of the sporangium wall, as in eusporangiate ferns, plants of the order Lycopodiales, and plants of the genus Equisetum, or the inner layer of a microsporangium, as in seed plants.
The substances in tapetum cells are used by the developing sporocytes and spores; in seed plants they are used by the pollen grains as well. The tapetum cells either form a periplasmodium, or amoeboid tapetum, or they maintain their position, forming a secretory tapetum. There is no tapetum in the sporangia of Psilotophyta or Isoëtales.