Kleistocarpy

Kleistocarp sporophyte (spore capsule) of Physcomitrella patens

The term Kleistocarpy goes back to the Greek kleistós = closed and karpós = fruit and means "closing fruitiness " (the corresponding adjective is kleistokarp ). It describes the fruiting of cleistogamous flowers (Greek gámos = marriage) of flowering plants . These do not open and are forced to pollinate themselves when closed. In mushrooms , the celistocarpy refers to closed fruiting bodies from which the spores are released by the disintegration or breakage of the wall. With mossesThe term celistocarpy is the term for leaf mosses with close fruit (e.g. the Sphaerocarpales ) with a capsule without a separate lid. The spores are also only released through the disintegration of the surrounding tissue.
Cleistocarpy is a secondary reduced characteristic of the sporophyte in the deciduous moss Physcomitrella patens .

literature

• R. Schubert & G. Wagner: Botanical dictionary - plant names and botanical terms . Ulmer, Stuttgart, 1993. ISBN 3-8252-1476-1
• Ralf Reski (1998): Development , genetics and molecular biology of mosses . Botanica Acta 111, 1-15.