Cone-bearing plants have two types of cones: female cones and male cones.

Reproduction begins
when one of the pollen grains from inside a pollen sac on the male cone floats through the air to the
scale of a female cone. A pollen tube then grows from the pollen grain toward the female ovule.
Sperm cells move through the pollen tube and one of them fertilizes an egg cell, which then
develops into a seed. The winged seed floats to the ground and begins to germinate. As the top of
the seedling reaches for light, the hypocotyl straightens and the cotyledons spread out.

Gymnosperm Definition
Gymnosperms are a group of plants which produce seeds that are not contained within an
ovary or fruit. The seeds are open to the air and are directly fertilized by pollination.

“Gymnosperm”, from the Greek, gymnos, “naked” and sperma, “seed”, develop their seeds
on the surface of scales and leaves, which often grow to form cone or stalk shapes,
contrasting in characteristics from the angiosperms, flowering plants which enclose their
seeds within an ovary.

The gymnosperms consist of the conifers, the cycads, the gnetophytes and the sole extant
species of the Gynkgophyta division, the Gingko biloba.

Examples of Gymnosperm
Conifers

Conifers, in the division Pinophyta or Coniferophyta, are the most numerous of the
gymnosperms; woody and with vascular tissue, these are cone bearing trees and shrubs.

Conifers can be found growing in all parts of the world, although they most notably dominate
the boreal forests of the northern hemisphere. Many are adapted to cold climatic conditions,
with downward facing branches, which help to shed snow, and specific biochemical
properties that provide resistance to freezing.

Examples of conifers include pines, yews, redwoods, spruces, firs and cedars.
The conifer forests of the world cover huge areas of land and provide the largest terrestrial
carbon sink. Conifers are also valued economically; their softwood is used for the production
of paper and timber, they are used to cultivate pine nuts, and the berries of the juniper bush
are used to flavor gin.

Cycads

The appearance of the cycads (division Cycadophyta) typically constitutes a single, stout,
cylindrical, woody trunk and a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen compound leaves,
which grow directly from the trunk in a rosette formation. The cycads are dioecious, meaning
that each individual plant is either all male or all female.

The cycads are partly xerophyte, which means they are adapted to survive in areas with very
little liquid water, although their distribution largely centers around the subtropical Tropic of
Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, as well as tropical regions such as Central and South
America, China and South East Asia, India and Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and Tropical and
Southern Africa.

The cycads were much more numerous in the past than today, peaking in ‘the age of the
cycads’ – the Jurassic period. There are only three extant families within the cycads today:
the Cycadaceae, Stangeriaceae and Zamiaceae.

Gnetophytes

The gnetophyta are distinguishable within the gymnosperms because they have vessel
elements, a system of channels mostly found in the angiosperms, which transport water
within the plant.

Covering 70 species over three genera, the gnetophyta are morphologically variable,
including trees, shrubs, stumps, vines and creepers with leaf shapes ranging from opposite, to
whorled, scale-like and straplike.

The distribution is determined by the genus: Welwitschia are unique to the Namib Desert and
surrounding areas in South West Africa; Gnetum are found in tropical forests; and Ephedra
are found mostly in arid or desert areas of South West America, North Africa, Southern
Europe and Central Asia.

Ginkgo

The closest relatives to the cycads, Gingko is a genus of gymnosperm of which Gingko
biloba is the sole extant species.

Gingkos are large, slender, shade-intolerant trees, growing up to 160ft with distinctive fan-
shaped leaves. They are deep rooted and resistant to damage from wind and snow. They are
also resistant to disease and insect damage, owing to an exceptionally large genome, which
enables antibacterial and chemical defense mechanisms.

Gingko first appears within the fossil record in the Permian period, 270 million years ago,
and the Gingko biloba remains largely unchanged today, earning it a classification as a
‘living fossil’.
Native only to China, Ginkgo biloba is cultivated globally for use in various traditional
medicines and as a food source.

Gymnosperm Life Cycle

Gymnosperms reproduce with an alteration of generations, meaning their reproductive cycle
has both haploid and diploid phases.

As in all other vascular plants, gymnosperms have a sporophyte dominant life cycle (the
sporophyte is the diploid multicellular stage, which comprises the body of the plant, i.e., a
leafy tree). The gametophyte phase is relatively short, and sees gametes produced on the
reproductive organs, which are usually cones.

The female ovulate cone, or megasporophyll, bear the megasporangium, diploid cells, which
undergo meiosis to produce four haploid spores. Of these haploid spores, only one survives as
the megaspore. The surviving megaspore then, through mitosis, develops into the female
gametophyte. Within the female gametophyte there is an egg and an endosperm mother cell;
the endosperm mother cell creates endosperm, which eventually ‘feeds’ the embryo.

The male cone, called the microsporophyll, is a small, spongy, leaf-like organ which bears
the microsporangium. The microsporangium contains the male microspores, which undergo
meiosis to generate the male gametophyte, pollen. The pollen grain contains the pollen tube
cell and the generative cell (which contains two sperm, although one dies).

When the pollen reaches the egg cell, either by wind or by animal through pollination, the
pollen grain releases the single sperm. The nuclei of the female and the male gametophytes
then fuse to create a diploid zygote. The endosperm, a haploid nutritional tissue, is released
from the endosperm mother cell, and surrounds the zygote to form a seed. The seeds appear
as the ‘scales’, which are visible on the cones of gymnosperms; these scales are then
dispersed to form a new sapling sporophyte, which grows into a mature sporophyte, and the
cycle continues.

Female cones are larger and woodier than male cones and are usually positioned higher up on
the tree, although in dioecious species, such as the cycads, the male and female cones are
borne on separate trees.
JEROME

Ferns, Liverwarts, Mosses, , and Horsetail. Fungi are not Plants but they also have spore. - Spore, a
reproductive cell capable of developing into a new individual without fusion with another
reproductive cell. Spores thus differ from gametes, which are reproductive cells that must fuse in
pairs in order to give rise to a new individual. Spores are agents of asexual reproduction, whereas
gametes are agents of sexual reproduction. Spores are produced by bacteria, fungi, algae, and
plants.

JENNY

GUAVA, CHICO, PAPAYA, BANANA, TOMATO, pineapple, cherry

JANELLE

pines, spruces, firs, cedars and larches are some of examples of needle shape leaves.

Angelo

Angiosperms - Angiosperms have to undergo a process called pollination before they can reproduce.
Angiosperms have male sex organs called stamens. On the end of the stamen is the anther. This is
where pollen is made.

erica

Bryophytes & thallophytes, First, bacteria, fungi, and algae are classified separately from
plants in the six-kingdom system, so they're not technically plants. Any nonvascular plants do
not have true roots, stems, and leaves. These include mosses, liverworts, hornworts, etc. They
have leaf-like parts, stem-like parts, root-like parts, but they aren't considered to be true
roots/stems/leaves unless they have xylem and phloem.