Microsporophyll
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Related to Microsporophyll: microsporangium, microsporangia
microsporophyll
[¦mī·krō′spȯr·ə‚fil] (botany)
A sporophyll bearing microsporangia.
Microsporophyll
a leaf in Pteridophyta and seed plants on which (or in the axil of which) only microsporangia (or one microsporangium) arise. Microsporangia are the receptacles of microspores. Microsporophylls are formed in heterosporous Lycopodiales (for example, Selaginella) and in gymnosperms. In angiosperms the stamen is homologous to the microsporophyll.