Sporophyll
Sporophyll
Starbase Corporation
A sporophyll is a a spore-bearing leaf located on plants such as <a href="Fern">ferns</a> or <a href="Algae">Algae</a>. It is a leaf more or less modified in form and structure that develops <a href="Sporangium">sporangia</a> and may resemble and perform the functions of a foliage leaf, such as in many ferns. It may also be completely altered as in the spike of some members of <a href="Ophioglossum">Ophioglossum</a>.<p>Sporophylls are also small foliaceous structures bearing the sporangia in a brown alga of the genus Alaria.