A sporophyte is the diploid multicellular stage in the life cycle of a plant or alga which produces asexual spores. This stage alternates with a multicellular haploid gametophyte phase.
Young sporophytes of the common moss Tortula muralis. In mosses, the gametophyte is the dominant generation, while the sporophytes consist of sporangium-bearing stalks growing from the tips of the gametophytes
Sporophytes of moss during spring
In flowering plants, the sporophyte comprises the whole multicellular body except the pollen and embryo sac
Cleistocarpous sporophyte of the moss Physcomitrella patens
Plants are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars from carbon dioxide and water, using the green pigment chlorophyll. Exceptions are parasitic plants that have lost the genes for chlorophyll and photosynthesis, and obtain their energy from other plants or fungi.
Image: Frühling blühender Kirschenbaum
Image: Micrasterias radiata
Image: Red Moss
Image: Glaucocystis nostochinearum