GYMNOSPERMS

These plants have no flowers but they have developed seeds. Seeds have an advantage over spores. Seeds often persist many years & can assist the seeds germination in many ways. Seeds can also provide nutriment & they can delay germination until conditions are perfect. Gymnosperms were also the first truly woody plants with bark & a central core of dead vascular tissue (wood) that helps make tree trunks.

Cone Bearing Plants (Gymnosperms)

These plants have vascular tissues & have developed seeds for the first time. The seeds are produced, housed, protected, & released through a cone like structure. Gymnosperms have no flowers. These plants have male & female cones. Female cones bear seeds, while male cones bear pollen. Pollination often occurs through wind, fire, & water, all of which are abiotic.

The Cone

Plant cones are sexual organs that house, protect, & disperse the seeds. Gymnosperms have male & female cones. The male cones provide the pollen that fertilizes the much larger female cone which produces the seeds. Oftentimes the male cones are higher up in the tree as to increase dispersal distances. Cones can be modified into other fruitlike structures like the beery like cones of Yews. Cone plants like Ginkgo have fruits that are very smelly & fleshy.