\Ga*me"to*phyte\, n. [Gamete + Gr. fyto`n plant.]
(Bot.)
In the alternation of generations in plants, that generation
or phase which bears sex organs. In the lower plants, as the
alg[ae], the gametophyte is the conspicuous part of the plant
body; in mosses it is the so-called moss plant; in ferns it
is reduced to a small, early perishing body; and in seed
plants it is usually microscopic or rudimentary.