botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, a sporophyll is a

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

that bears

sporangia A sporangium (from Late Latin, ; : sporangia) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a unicellular organism, single cell or can be multicellular organism, multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungus, fungi, and many ot ...

. Both microphylls and megaphylls can be sporophylls. In heterosporous plants, sporophylls (whether they are microphylls or megaphylls) bear either megasporangia and thus are called megasporophylls, or microsporangia and are called microsporophylls. The overlap of the prefixes and roots makes these terms a particularly confusing subset of botanical nomenclature. Sporophylls vary greatly in appearance and structure, and may or may not look similar to sterile leaves. Plants that produce sporophylls include: '' Alaria esculenta'', a brown alga which shows sporophylls attached near the base of the alga.Dickson, Carola I. 1963. ''British Seaweeds''. The Kew Series. Lycophytes, where sporophylls may be aggregated into strobili (''Selaginella'' and some ''Lycopodium'' and related genera) or distributed singly among sterile leaves ('' Huperzia''). Sporangia are borne in the axil or on the adaxial surface of the sporophyll. In heterosporous members, megasporophylls and microsporophylls may be intermixed or separated in a variety of patterns.

Fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s, which may produce sporophylls that are similar to sterile fronds or that appear very different from sterile fronds. These may be non-photosynthetic and lack typical pinnae, e.g. ''

Onoclea sensibilis ''Onoclea sensibilis'', the sensitive fern, also known as the bead fern, is a coarse-textured, medium to large-sized deciduous perennial plant, perennial fern. The name comes from its sensitivity to frost, the fronds dying quickly when first touc ...

''. Cycads produce strobili, both pollen-producing and seed-producing, that are composed of sporophylls. ''

Ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants, assigned to the gymnosperms. The scientific name is also used as the English common name. The order to which the genus belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, , and ''Ginkgo'' is n ...

'' produces microsporophylls aggregated into a pollen strobilus. Ovules are not born on sporophylls .

Gymnosperm The gymnosperms ( ; ) are a group of woody, perennial Seed plant, seed-producing plants, typically lacking the protective outer covering which surrounds the seeds in flowering plants, that include Pinophyta, conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and gnetoph ...

s, like ''Ginkgo'' and cycads, produce microsporophylls, aggregated into pollen strobili. However, unlike these other groups, ovules are produced on cone scales, which are modified shoots rather than sporophylls. Some plants do not produce sporophylls. Sporangia are produced directly on stems. '' Psilotum'' has been interpreted as producing sporangia (fused in a synangium) on the terminus of a stem. '' Equisetum'' always produce strobili, but the structures bearing sporangia (sporangiophores) have been interpreted as modified stems. The sporangia, despite being recurved are interpreted as terminal. Gnetophytes produce both compound pollen and seed strobili.

References

* C.Michael Hogan. 2010
''Fern''. Encyclopedia of Earth. National council for Science and the Environment
Washington, DC Plant morphology Plant reproduction Leaves {{Reflist