During their early growth, the embryos of all vascular plants exist as virtual parasites depending for nutrition on either the gametophyte or the previous sporophyte generation through the agency of the gametophyte or, in the special case of the angiosperms, upon an initially triploid tissue, the endosperm, which is itself nourished by the parent sporophyte.

The early nutrition of the sporophyte in ferns, horsetails, and club mosses such as Lycopodium is clearly provided by the gametophyte. In these groups the young sporophyte produces a multicellular structure, the foot, which remains embedded in the tissues of the gametophyte throughout early development withdrawing nutrients. Ultimately, both shoot and root of the sporophyte grow out from the gametophyte, but, even after the first leaf has begun to photosynthesize and thus to produce its own food, the gametophyte may persist.

In Selaginella, the gametophytes are sexually distinct. The female gametophyte develops within the wall of the megaspore. The archegonia are exposed after the megaspore wall splits, but the gametophyte never escapes completely. After fertilization, the zygote cleaves, and the outer cell produces a long suspensor that pushes the embryo deeply into the tissues of the gametophyte. A foot is then formed, as in Lycopodium, and further development of the embryo continues at the expense of reserves transferred to the megaspore from the preceding sporophyte generation.

There are superficial similarities between the nutritional history of the embryo in gymnosperms and in Selaginella, for, in each, the female gametophyte, dependent upon reserves derived from the sporophyte, acts as an intermediary between one sporophyte generation and the next.

In the pines, the female gametophyte develops within the tissues of the nucellus and acquires abundant food reserves. The proembryo forms after a period of free-nuclear division in the zygote, and the tier of cells above the basal four then elongates to form a suspensor, which pushes the embryonic group deep into the gametophyte. Secondary suspensor cells may form from the basal tier to continue the process. During embryogenesis, the gametophyte continues to grow and to accumulate food materials, which are transferred to the embryo or remain as reserves in the seed.

The female gametophyte of angiosperms never acquires copious reserves, although starch is frequently present in the central cell and sometimes in the egg itself. The unique feature, here, is that the embryo is nutritionally dependent upon the endosperm, a tissue that, in the genetical sense, constitutes a third organism—neither gametophyte nor sporophyte. Furthermore, as a tissue the endosperm manifests several other special characteristics. The nuclei have three chromosome sets and, therefore, three times the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of haploid cells. As nuclear division ends, the amount of DNA per nucleus increases still further, a condition comparable with that in various plant- and animal-gland nuclei, presumably connected with the nutritional function of the endosperm. Nuclear division takes place at first without cell-wall formation so that a coenocyte is produced; later, partitioning of the cytoplasm results in a cellular tissue.

The reserves accumulated in the endosperm include carbohydrates (especially starch), lipids, and proteins. As reserves accumulate, the nuclei of the endosperm cells may undergo deformation and degeneration. In many plants the growing embryo consumes the endosperm before seed maturation; in others, the tissue persists in the seed, providing a reserve for the developing seedling after germination. Endosperm is not formed in certain angiosperms. In such cases the embryo depends on the transfer of nutrients directly from the sporophyte.

Tissues other than the endosperm may become specialized for the early nutrition of the embryo. The antipodal cells of the female gametophyte sometimes acquire glandular properties, as may cells of the nucellus surrounding the embryo sac. In some species the embryo itself develops a suspensor that penetrates the tissues of the parent sporophyte and acts as an absorbing organ.

Dormancy of the embryo

Among the lower vascular plants (club mosses, horsetails, and ferns), the principal agent of dispersal is the haploid spore and not, as in gymnosperms and angiosperms, the seed, the ripened ovule containing a dormant embryo. Since the embryo of lower pteropsids is not involved in dispersal, it does not usually undergo any marked period of dormancy after the differentiation of the primary organs. Development instead proceeds continuously through dependence upon the gametophyte until the young sporophyte is established as a physiologically independent plant. The embryos of gymnosperms and angiosperms pass into a state of dormancy soon after the differentiation of the primary organs and the sporophyte is dispersed in a seed.

In the period leading up to dormancy, several changes occur in the embryo. The accumulation of reserves in the cotyledons or elsewhere ceases, respiratory rate declines rapidly, and cell division, with associated protein and nucleic-acid synthesis, stops. Correlated with these events are cellular changes typical of tissues with low metabolic activity. Especially obvious is the general dehydration of the cells that constitute the seed and the thickening of the cell walls of the ovule to form the seed coat (testa). The product is a structure in which the embryo is protected from temperature extremes by its state of desiccation and is often guarded from further drying and from mechanical or biological degradation by the seed coats. The seed coat often contributes to the maintenance of dormancy by physically impeding the passage of water and gases to and from the embryo, by chemically inhibiting germination, and by mechanically restricting the growth of the embryo.