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The gymnosperms (/ ˈ dʒ ɪ m n ə ˌ s p ɜːr m z,-n oʊ-/ ⓘ JIM-nə-spurmz, -noh-; lit. ' revealed seeds ') are a group of woody, perennial seed-producing plants, typically lacking the protective outer covering which surrounds the seeds in flowering plants, that include conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and gnetophytes, forming the clade Gymnospermae [2] The term gymnosperm comes from the ...
Diagram of an ovule in gymnosperms and angiosperms Photomicrograph of an ovule of a monocotyledon In angiosperms the gynoecium , also called pistil , consists of one or more carpels or carpel leaves that form a cavity, the ovary , inside which the ovules or seminal primordia are protected from both desiccation and attack by phytophagous insects.
The gymnosperms consist of five orders of seed plants: Cupressales, Cycadales, Ginkgoales, Gnetales and Pinales. [a] They developed more than 350 million years ago, long before flowering plants, according to the fossil record. The name comes from the Greek for "naked seed"; the egg cells are not protected by ovaries, as in flowering plants. [4]
Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (/ p ɪ ˈ n ɒ f ɪ t ə, ˈ p aɪ n oʊ f aɪ t ə /), also known as Coniferophyta (/ ˌ k ɒ n ɪ f ə ˈ r ɒ f ɪ t ə,-oʊ f aɪ t ə /) or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida.
For one, both male and female cycads are gymnosperms and bear cones (strobili), while palms are angiosperms and so flower and bear fruit. The mature foliage looks very similar between both groups, but the young emerging leaves of a cycad resemble a fiddlehead fern before they unfold and take their place in the rosette, while the leaves of palms ...
Gnetophyta (/ n ɛ ˈ t ɒ f ɪ t ə, ˈ n ɛ t oʊ f aɪ t ə /) is a division of plants (alternatively considered the subclass Gnetidae or order Gnetales), grouped within the gymnosperms (which also includes conifers, cycads, and ginkgos), that consists of some 70 species across the three relict genera: Gnetum (family Gnetaceae), Welwitschia (family Welwitschiaceae), and Ephedra (family ...
Molecular evidence suggests that the ancestors of angiosperms diverged from the gymnosperms during the late Devonian, about 365 million years ago. [51] The origin time of the crown group of flowering plants remains contentious. [52] By the Late Cretaceous, angiosperms appear to have dominated environments formerly occupied by ferns and gymnosperms.
A conifer cone, or in formal botanical usage a strobilus, pl.: strobili, is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants, especially in conifers and cycads. They are usually woody and variously conic, cylindrical, ovoid, to globular, and have scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, but can be fleshy and berry-like.