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What happens after a lycophyte sperm reaches an archegonium?
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Lycophyte
Club moss (Lycopodium annotinum).
When a lycophyte sperm reaches an archegonium, it enters the structure to fertilize the egg, marking the end of the gametophyte phase and the beginning of the sporophyte phase.12
Following this fertilization, the resulting zygote undergoes cell division to form an embryo. In club mosses, the zygote divides in a plane at right angles to the axis of the archegonium. The daughter cell located toward the neck of the archegonium develops into a suspensor, while the inner cell gives rise to the primary organs of the young sporophyte: the shoot, the root, and a food-absorbing outgrowth known as a haustorial foot. Ultimately, the sporophyte becomes physiologically independent, and the gametophyte dies.23