receptacle

noun

(L. receptaculum: store, refuge) The tip (distal end) of a flower stalk, usually more or less enlarged, flattened, or cup-like, on which the petals, sepals, stamens, and carpels are borne; the way the receptacle develops determines the position of the flower parts; it can be dilated and dome-shaped, saucer-shaped, or hollow and enclosing the gynoecium (see epigyny, hypogyny, perigyny); in some plants it may become part of the fruit (see pseudocarp). In ferns, an axis on which sporangia arise. A swollen part of the thallus of some algae, e.g. Fucus, that bears the conceptacles in which the sex organs are situated. In bryophytes, a disc or wart-like mass of tissue bearing antheridia or archegonia and found directly on the thallus (e.g. Conocephalum, Corsinia), inside the thallus (e.g. Pellia), or elevated and terminating a gametangiophore (e.g. Marchantia).