‖ sporangium Bot.
(spɒˈrændʒɪəm)
[mod.L., f. Gr. σπορά spore + ἀγγεῖον vessel.]
A receptacle containing spores; a spore-case or capsule.
| 1821 W. J. Hooker Flora Scotica ii. 78 Filaments gelatinous,..within filled with elliptical sporangia. 1839 Lindley Introd. Bot. (ed. 3) 266 If the interior of the sporangium be now investigated. Ibid. 267. 1863 M. J. Berkeley Brit. Mosses i. 8 In many cases life ceases in the parent plant after the formation of the sporangia. 1881 Nature XXIV. 560 Another genus..is allied by the structure of its sporangium to Angiopteris. |
| attrib. 1875 Cooke Fungi 51 The sporangia-bearers are at first always branchless and without partitions. |