Editing Gamete (section)

==Plants==
[[Plants]] that reproduce sexually also produce gametes. However, since plants have a life cycle involving [[Alternation of generations|alternation of diploid and haploid generations]] some differences from animal life cycles exist. Plants use [[meiosis]] to produce spores that develop into [[Multicellular organism|multicellular]] haploid [[gametophyte]]s which produce gametes by mitosis. In animals there is no corresponding multicellular haploid phase. The sperm of plants that reproduce using spores are formed by mitosis in an organ of the gametophyte known as the [[antheridium]] and the egg cells by mitosis in a flask-shaped organ called the [[archegonium]].<ref name=Sporne2022>{{cite book | vauthors = Sporne KR |date=2022 |title=The morphology of Pteridophytes; the structure of ferns and allied plants |publisher=Legare Street Press |isbn=978-1015505667 }}</ref> Plant sperm cells are their only motile cells, often described as flagellate, but more correctly as ciliate.<ref name=Wolniak2000>{{cite journal | vauthors = Wolniak SM, Klink VP, Hart PE, Tsai CW | title = Control of development and motility in the spermatozoids of lower plants | journal = Gravitational and Space Biology Bulletin | volume = 13 | issue = 2 | pages = 85–93 | date = June 2000 | pmid = 11543285 }}</ref> Bryophytes have 2 flagella, horsetails have up to 200 and the mature spermatozoa of the [[cycad]] ''Zamia pumila'' has up to 50,000 flagella.<ref name=Norstog1986>{{cite journal | vauthors = Norstog KJ |title=The blepharoplast of ''Zamia pumila'' L. |journal=Botanical Gazette |date=1986 |volume=147 |issue=1 |pages=40–46 |doi=10.1086/337566 |s2cid=85257438 }}</ref> Cycads and ''Ginkgo biloba'' are the only gymnosperms with motile sperm.<ref name=Wolniak2000/> In the [[flowering plant]]s, the female gametophyte is produced inside the [[ovule]] within the [[Ovary (botany)|ovary]] of the flower. When mature, the haploid gametophyte produces female gametes which are ready for fertilization. The male gametophyte is produced inside a [[pollen]] grain within the [[anther]] and is non-motile, but can be distributed by wind, water or animal vectors. When a pollen grain lands on a mature [[stigma (botany)|stigma]] of a flower it germinates to form a [[pollen tube]] that grows down the style into the ovary of the flower and then into the ovule. The pollen then produces non-motile sperm nuclei by mitosis that are transported down the pollen tube to the ovule where they are released for fertilization of the egg cell.