\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.
    {O["o]phore}.