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sporemore about spore

spore


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Spore  \Spore\,  n.  [Gr.  ?  a  sowing,  seed,  from  ?  to  sow.  Cf 
  {Sperm}.] 
  1.  (Bot.) 
  a  One  of  the  minute  grains  in  flowerless  plants,  which 
  are  analogous  to  seeds,  as  serving  to  reproduce  the 
  species. 
 
  Note:  Spores  are  produced  differently  in  the  different 
  classes  of  cryptogamous  plants,  and  as  regards  their 
  nature  are  often  so  unlike  that  they  have  only  their 
  minuteness  in  common.  The  peculiar  spores  of  diatoms 
  (called  auxospores)  increase  in  size,  and  at  length 
  acquire  a  siliceous  coating,  thus  becoming  new  diatoms 
  of  full  size.  Compare  {Macrospore},  {Microspore}, 
  {O["o]spore},  {Restingspore},  {Sph[ae]rospore}, 
  {Swarmspore},  {Tetraspore},  {Zo["o]spore},  and 
  {Zygospore}. 
  b  An  embryo  sac  or  embryonal  vesicle  in  the  ovules  of 
  flowering  plants. 
 
  2.  (Biol.) 
  a  A  minute  grain  or  germ;  a  small  round  or  ovoid  body, 
  formed  in  certain  organisms,  and  by  germination  giving 
  rise  to  a  new  organism;  as  the  reproductive  spores  of 
  bacteria,  etc 
  b  One  of  the  parts  formed  by  fission  in  certain 
  Protozoa.  See  {Spore  formation},  belw. 
 
  {Spore  formation}. 
  a  (Biol)  A  mode  of  reproduction  resembling  multitude 
  fission,  common  among  Protozoa,  in  which  the  organism 
  breaks  up  into  a  number  of  pieces,  or  spores,  each  of 
  which  eventually  develops  into  an  organism  like  the 
  parent  form  --Balfour. 
  b  The  formation  of  reproductive  cells  or  spores,  as  in 
  the  growth  of  bacilli. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  spore 
  n  :  small  usually  single-celled  reproductive  body  produced 
  especially  by  certain  bacteria  and  algae  and  fungi  and 
  nonflowering  plants 




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