Gymnosperms

Spring 2010
 Outline
Review of land plant phylogeny
Characters of seed plants
Gymnosperm phylogeny & diversity
Gnetophytes
Cycads
Gingko
Conifers
Review of land plant phylogeny

Green plants (viridophytes)

Land plants (embryophytes)
Vascular plants (tracheophytes)
Seed plants (spermatophytes)
Gymnosperms
Angiosperms
Figure 7.8 from the text
Figure 7.11 (Pt. 1) from the text
Figure 7.12 from the text
 Spermatophytes (Seed Plants)
Gymnosperms

Angiosperms
Flowering Plants

nonmotile
sperm
loss of lateral
branches

and MORE!

vessel structure
striate pollen
Seed Ferns
double fertilization [FOSSIL]
nonmotile sperm

eustele

axillary branching

male gametophyte: pollen grain & pollen tube

vascular cambium [secondary xylem (wood) & secondary phloem) & cork cambium (cork)

seed: MANY CHARACTERS! e.g., heterospory; reduction/retention of megaspore; integument/micropyle; nutritive tissue
 Characters of seed plants
Eustele
Axillary branching
Wood
Cambia (vascular cambium, cork cambium)
Seed
Heterospory
Megaspore reduction/retention
Integument/micropyle
Nutritive tissue
Male gametophyte
Pollen grain
Pollen tube
 Characters of seed plants: Eustele

eustele = primary stem vasculature comprising a

single ring of vascular bundles
Characters of seed plants: axillary branching
Characters of seed plants: cambia
cambia: vascular cambium (wood) & cork
cambium (periderm)
X-section of woody stem
Characters of seed plants: seed
Heterospory

Megaspore reduction/retention

Integument/micropyle

Nutritive tissue
 Life cycle of most seed-free plants
homospory
Multicellular
Sporophyte
[with sporangia]
Zygote
2n
SYNGAMY alternation of MEIOSIS
generations

n
Spores
Gametes
[egg + sperm] Multicellular
Gametophyte
[with gametangia:
archegonia + antheridia]
 Life cycle of seed plants
heterospory
Multicellular
Sporophyte
Zygote
2n
SYNGAMY alternation of MEIOSIS
generations

n
microspores
sperm Male Gametophyte
egg [antheridia] megaspores
Female Gametophyte
[archegonia]
 Evolution of the seed
Megaspore reduction:
-reduction to 1 megaspore
 Evolution of the seed
Megaspore retention:
-the one megaspore is retained within
megasporangium, not released
 Evolution of the seed
Evolution of integument/micropyle from
sterile sporophyte tissue
 Evolution of the seed
pollination droplet:
-secreted by young ovule through micropyle
-water + sugars, amino acids (megasporangium)
-adhering pollen grains pulled inside!
 Evolution of the seed
-nutritive tissue from the
female gametophyte
-integument becomes the
seed coat
Figure 7.11 (Pt. 2) from the text
 Characters of seed plants
male gametophyte
pollen grain = extremely reduced male
gametophyte, a few cells
pollen tube formed by the pollen, grows
though sporophytic tissue to deliver sperm
cells to egg (in ovule)
 Characters of seed plants: seed

Adaptive advantages of the seed:

protection (seed coat)

dispersal unit of sexual reproduction
dormancy mechanisms
nutritive tissue provides energy for young
seedling, aiding in establishment
 Two major groups of seed plants:

Gymnospermsnot sure of the early

evolutionary history of gymnosperms;
could be monophyletic or could be
paraphyletic

Angiospermsmonophyly supported
by many characters including the
carpel
Gymnosperm Phylogeny

4 monophyletic lineages of gymnosperms

 Figure 7.15 from the text

Gymnosperms
paraphyletic Gymnosperms
monophyletic

Gymnosperms Gymnosperms
monophyletic paraphyletic
 Gymnosperm diversity
-ca. 15 families, 75-80 genera, ca. 900 species
-4 monophyletic lineages
-all woody
-mostly without effective vegetative reproduction
-only tracheids in the xylem (except for gnetophytes,
which also have vessels)
-naked seeds
-relatively slow sexual reproduction
-worldwide but dominant in many colder or arctic
regions
-include the tallest, the most massive, and the longest
living individual plants
 Major groups of gymnosperms
Gnetophytes

Cycads

Gingko

Conifers
 Major groups of gymnosperms

GnetophytaGnetophytes or Gnetales
3 extant genera: Ephedra (65 spp.); Gnetum (28
spp.); Welwitschia mirabilis

related to angiosperms?
recent molecular data: a gymnosperm group
defined by many characters, e.g.:
-opposite leaves, similar pollen
-vessel structure (independent of angiosperms)
-nonmotile sperm (independent?)
-double fertilization (independent of angiosperms)
-some with insect pollination
 Major groups of gymnosperms
Gnetophyta - Gnetophytes

Ephedra (65 spp.)

-common desert shrub
-reduced
scale-like
leaves
 Major groups of gymnosperms
Gnetophyta Gnetales

Gnetum (28 spp.)

tropical vines, trees, shrubs with opposite
leaves that look like angiosperms!
 Major groups of gymnosperms
Gnetales Gnetophytes

Welwitschia mirabilis
-a strange plant native to deserts of Namibia,
sw Africa!
-2 big curly leaves!
 Major groups of gymnosperms

Cycadophyta Cycads
squat, unbranched trunk (little wood),
usually pinnately compound leaves
loss of axillary branching
dioecious: male and female plants
male and female strobili (cones)
motile, multiflagellate sperm!
(ancestral)
coralloid roots with nitrogen-fixing
cyanobacteria
 Major groups of gymnosperms
Cycadophyta Cycads
ca. 11 genera (130 spp.)
now restricted distribution
seeds with bright fleshy seed
coat--dispersed by plant-eating
dinos!
A native U.S. cycad:
Zamia floridana
 Major groups of gymnosperms
Ginkgophytes Ginkgo
extensive fossil record butonly
1 living species: Ginkgo biloba!

highly branched tree with

well developed wood
deciduous, fan-shaped leaves with
dichotomous venation
dioecious: male and female trees
-male: cone with lateral stalks bearing
microsporangia
-female: no cone, axis with 2 ovules
(outer integument layer fleshy)
motile sperm (ancestral)
 Major groups of gymnosperms

Coniferophyta Conifers
ca. 600 spp.
once dominant worldwide, displaced by angios
shrubs or small trees, highly branched with
well developed wood
leaves simple, often needle-like or awl-shaped
-pines: in fascicles
non-motile sperm (pollen tube needed)
female (seed-bearing) cones in most
 Major groups of gymnosperms
Coniferophyta Conifers

pollen cone or male cone

-microsporangia & modified
leaves
seed cone or female cone
-axis with modified leaves
(bracts, usually reduced), each
subtending seed-bearing scale
(modified branch system)
-woody or leathery or fleshy

female
 Major groups of gymnosperms
Coniferophyta Conifers
seed cone and pine nuts

Stone Pine nuts Korean pine nuts

[w U.S.]
Figure 8.23 from the text

Conifers
Pollen usually with 2 appendages

Leaves linear to needle-like

Resin canals in
wood & leaves

Pinaceae

Winged seeds Ovules 2, inverted

 Pseudotsuga (Douglas fir)

Abies (fir)

Picea (spruce) Larix (larch)

Pinus
(pines)

-needles in bundles
-cone scales thickened at
the tip and often armed
with a prickle
Pollen without appendages Leaves scale-like to linear

Cone scales fused to bracts

Microsporangia 2-10 per microsporophyll &

ovules 1-20 per cone scale
Cupressaceae
Juniperus (juniper)
Taxodium (bald cypress)

Chamaecyparis
Sequoia sempervirens (redwood) Sequoiadendron giganteum
(giant sequoia)
 Taxaceae

Ovules solitary,
cones lacking

Seeds with a fleshy, brightly colored aril

 Podocarpus

Araucariaceae