Spo"ro*phore (?), n. [Spore + Gr. to bear.] Bot. (a)
A placenta.
(b)
That alternately produced form of certain cryptogamous plants, as ferns, mosses, and the like, which is nonsexual, but produces spores in countless numbers. In ferns it is the leafy plant, in mosses the capsule. Cf. Oophore.
© Webster 1913.