: the haploid multicellular individual or generation of a plant or alga with alternation of generations that begins with a haploid spore, produces gametes by mitotic division, and ends with fertilization producing a diploid zygote and that constitutes the visibly dominant form in mosses and algae, exists as an independent plant body in ferns and their relatives, and is reduced to a microscopic or rudimentary state in seed plants — compare sporophyte
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Recent Examples of gametophyte from the Web
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Nowellia curvifolia (leafy liverwort) gametophyte, berberine stained.
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Origin and Etymology of gametophyte
NEW! Time Traveler
First Known Use: circa 1889
in the meaning defined above
See Words from the same yearMedical Dictionary
: the individual or generation of a plant exhibiting alternation of generations that bears sex organs — compare sporophyte
Learn More about gametophyte
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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about gametophyte
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