The female reproductive cell or structure in red algae and certain fungi that develops after receiving the male gamete and produces the fruit body.
From Greek karpos (fruit) and gonion (reproductive part). Coined in 19th-century botanical terminology to name this crucial structure in algal life cycles.
The carpogonium has a wild job—after being fertilized, it sends out threads into surrounding cells to build the entire fruit body remotely, like an architect directing construction from one spot!
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