What is "sporocarp"

Sporocarp \Spo"ro*carp\ (sp[=o]"r[-o]*k[aum]rp), n. [Spore + Gr. ? fruit.] (Bot.)

1. A closed body or conceptacle containing one or more masses of spores or sporangia.

2. A sporangium.

n. The structure on a fungus which houses the spore-producing organs.

n. specialized leaf branch in certain aquatic ferns that encloses the sori or clusters of sporangia [syn: spore case]

Sporocarp may refer to:

• Sporocarp (fungi), a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures are borne
• Sporocarp (ferns), specialized spore-producing structure found in some ferns

In fungi, the sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cycle, with the rest of the life cycle being characterized by vegetative mycelial growth and asexual spore production.

The sporocarp of a basidiomycete is known as a " basidiocarp" or "basidiome", while the fruitbody of an ascomycete is known as an " ascocarp". Many shapes and morphologies are found in both basidiocarps and ascocarps; these features play an important role in the identification and taxonomy of fungi.

Fruitbodies are termed "epigeous" if they grow on the ground, like those of ordinary mushrooms, while others which grow underground are "hypogeous". Epigeous sporocarps that are visible to the naked eye, especially fruitbodies of a more or less agaricoid morphology, are often referred to as mushrooms, while hypogeous fungi are usually called truffles or false truffles. During their evolution truffles lost the ability to disperse their spores by air currents, and propagate instead by animal consumption and subsequent dispersal of their spores.

In amateur mushroom hunting, and to a large degree in academic mycology as well, identification of higher fungi is based on the features of the sporocarp.

The largest known fruitbody is a specimen of Phellinus ellipsoideus (formerly Fomitiporia ellipsoidea) found on Hainan. It measures up to in length and is estimated to weigh between .

A sporocarp is a specialised type of structure found in some ferns whose primary function is the production and release of spores.

Among ferns, sporocarps are found only in the three families of the order Salviniales, a group that is both aquatic and heterosporous. The term actually refers to two very different structures. In the Azollaceae and Salviniaceae, the sporocarp is nothing more than a modified sorus, a single cluster of spore-producing tissues enclosed by a thin sphere of tissue and attached to the leaves.

In the Marsileaceae (water-clover family), however, the sporocarp is a more elaborate structure formed from an entire leaf whose development and form is greatly modified. These are hairy, short-stalked, bean-shaped structures (usually 3 to 8 mm in diameter) with a hardened outer covering. This outer covering is tough and resistant to drying out, allowing the spores inside to survive unfavorable conditions such as winter frost or summer desiccation. Despite this toughness, the sporocarps will open readily in water if conditions are favorable, and specimens have been successfully germinated after being stored for more than forty years. Each growing season, only one sporocarp develops per node along the rhizome near the base of the other leaf-stalks.

The sporocarps are functionally and developmentally modified leaves, although they have much shorter stalks than the vegetative leaves. Inside the sporocarp, the modified leaflets bear several sori, each of which consists of several sporangia covered by a thin hood of tissue (the indusium). Each sorus includes a mix of two types of sporangium, each type producing only one of two kinds of spores. Toward the center of each sorus and developing first are the megasporangia, each of which will produce a single large female megaspore. Surrounding them at the edge of the sorus and developing later are the microsporangia, each of which will produce many small male microspores.