Thus the gonads are covered over by at least four layers of epithelium, and since these are unnecessary, presenting merely obstacles to the dehiscence of the gonads, they gradually undergo reduction.
The pollen is set free by the opening (dehiscence) of the anther, generally by means of longitudinal slits, but sometimes by pores, as in the heath family (Ericaceae), or by valves, as in the barberry.
The sporangia (pollen-sacs), which occur on the under-side of the stamens, are often arranged in more or less definite groups or sori, interspersed with hairs (paraphyses); dehiscence takes place along a line marked out by the occurrence of smaller and thinner-walled cells bounded by larger and thickerwalled elements, which form a fairly prominent cap-like " annulus " near the apex of the sporangium, not unlike the annulus characteristic of the Schizaeaceae among ferns.
The cells of the wall of the sporangium are usually so constructed as to determine the dehiscence of the sporangium and the liberation of its spores.
The spores, when liberated by the dehiscence of the sporangium, give rise to the prothallus, which is now, owing mainly to the investigations of Treub and Bruchmann, known in a number of tropical and temperate species.