Seed plants:

Gymnosperms
Biol102
Source of information

• OpenStax Biology 2e Chapter 26

(on Learn 2023)
• Pearson Biology Chapter 30
(pages 694 – 697)
Evolutionary Tendencies: Reducing the Haploid Gametophyte Generation - Making
Fertilization Independent of Water

Zygote

SP
GA ORO
ME PH
TO YTE
PH
YT (2n)
E(
n)

GREEN ALGA BRYOPHYTE FERN GYMNOSPERM ANGIOSPERM

Evolutionary Trends in Seedless Vascular Plants

• Leaves (Micro-, Megaphylls) and roots

• Vascular tissues

• Sporophylls: strobili (cones)

• Reduced gametophyte

• Heterospory & Endospory

• Secondary growth
The Evolution of Early Land Plants (2)

420 mya
First vascular
(1) plants
475 mya
Early bryophytes
360 mya
First seed plants
(3)
Carboniferous forest 360 mya
NO SEEDS!

• Club mosses and ferns do not produce seeds!

Seeds changed the course of plant evolution, enabling
their bearers to become the dominant producers in
most terrestrial ecosystems
WHY???

Gymnosperm cones and seeds Angiosperm fruits and seeds

The Seed Plants – Common traits of gymnosperms and angiosperms

Living seed plants: gymnosperms and

angiosperms

Common traits:

• Reduced gametophytes
• Heterospory
• Seeds from ovules
• Sperm as pollen
The Seed Plants – Traits that distinguish gymnosperms and angiosperms

Gymnosperms:

• No flowers
• “Naked” seeds
• sporophylls, cones cones (strobili)
Sporophylls and Spore Variations – Steps Towards the Evolution of Seeds
Steps in the evolution of seeds

1. Homospory

2. Heterospory

3. Endospory
Secondary growth
• Secondary growth is characterized by an increase in the
thickness of the plant
• Allowing plants to grow taller and thicker
• Characteristics of seed plants
Seed Plants
Gymnosperms (naked seed)

• Gymnosperms have naked seeds

• exposed on sporophylls that usually form cones
• Cone-bearing plants termed cornifers
• E.g., pine and cycad trees
• Gymnosperm means “naked seed” (From the Greek:
gymnos = naked; sperm = seed)
• Gymnosperm mean naked seeds
Seed Plants
Gymnosperms (naked seed)

• More advanced than ferns

• do not have spores, they have seeds.
• The seeds of the gymnosperms lack a protective
enclosure
• Vascular tissue: conducting water and minerals
Seed Plants
Gymnosperms (naked seed)

• Do not produce fruits

• No flowers
• Provide food to their embryo
• They have a protective seed coat
• Heterosporous
• Sporophyte generation is the dominant phase
The life cycle of a pine

• Three key features of the

gymnosperm life cycle are
• Reduction of their gametophytes
• Production of seeds, a
dispersible stage in the life cycle
• The transfer of sperm to ovules
by pollen
Gymnosperms - Male cones - Microsporophylls
Gymnosperms - Female cones - Megasporophylls

Megasporophyll

2 Ovules
Female cones – Seeds and embryos

Seed plant
embryo:
Cotyledones
Hypocotyl
Radicle
The male gametophyte

• Pollen cones are small

• consist of modified leaves
(microsporophylls) that bear
microsporangia
• Microsporocytes undergo meiosis to
produce haploid microspores
• Each microspore develops into a pollen
grain
The female gametophyte

• Ovulate cones are larger and consist

of modified leaves called
megasporophylls
• Megasporocytes undergo meiosis
to produce haploid megaspores
• Megaspores develop into female
gametophytes
The Seed Plants - Seeds

After fertilization diploid sporophyte embryo

develops within the reduced megagametophyte
which is retained within the megaspore, the
megaspore is retained within the megasporangium
and further enclosed by sporophyte tissue
2 sporophyte generations on one plant!
The Seed Plants - Seeds

A typical seed is a
sporophyte embryo
with food storage tissue
and a protecting seed coat

Gingko seed cross section by Curtis Clark

• Embryo within the seed is dormant

• Survives long time without external food or water
• Can be modified and adapted to dispersal agents
• In favorable conditions embryo resumes growth while seed
germinates
Gymnosperm life cycle
Reduced Gametophyte

The gametophytes of seed plants develop within the walls of

spores retained within tissues of the parent sporophyte
The living gymnosperms

• Cacycadophyta (cycads)
• Gingkophyta (one living species: Ginkgo
biloba)
• Gnetophyta (Gnetum, Ephedra,
Welwitschia)
• Coniferophyta (conifers)
Facts about
gymnosperms
• C.720 species
• Still dominate Boreal regions
• Provide 75% of world’s timber
• Mostly wind pollinated
Phylum Cycadophyta
(cycads)
• Mostly tropical and subtropical
• c.100 species of living cycads
• Cycads have flagellated sperm
• Arose from seedless vascular plants
• Common during the Jurrassic era
• 75% of their species are threatened
Phylum Cycadophyta - Cones

• Separate sexes (dioecious) ♂

• Microsporophylls and
megasporophylls arranged in large
cones (up to 30kg)
♀
Microsporophyll

microsporangia

megasporophyll
ovule
Phylum Cycadophyta – Female cones - Megastrobili

Female megasporophylls not always a strobilus

e.g. Cycas has megasporophylls that are spirally
arranged

Cycas wadei female cone Zamia fischeri female cone

Phylum Cycadophyta – Female cones - Megastrobili

Most cycads pollinated by beetles

4-6 months from pollination to

fertilization

Seeds are highly toxic (Protection

against herbivory?)
Phylum Ginkgophyta (ginkgos)
• Dioecious (sexes on separate plants)
• Ginkgo biloba only living species
• Have flagellated sperm
• Deciduous fanlike trees
• Fossils c.170 mya
Phylum Gnetophyta
• Three genera (Gnetum, Ephedra and Welwitschia)
• 76 living species
• Found in tropical regions but some species live in desert
environments
• Considered advanced because they have angiosperm like
traits
• They have xylem vessels
• Double fertilization in Ephedra
Phylum Gnetophyta - Welwitschia mirabilis

• Single species in Namib desert (c. 20 mm rainfall py)

• Dioecious

woody disk
2 straplike leaves
up to 2000 years old
basal meristem

taproot c. 5 metres
Phylum Gnetophyta - Welwitschia - Megastrobilus

Ovulate cones
Phylum Gnetophyta – Welwitschia - Microstrobilus

“Stamen-like” appearance of
microsporophylls

Stamen = microsporophylls
of angiosperm flowers!
Phylum Coniferophyta

• Evolved c. 300 mya

• c. 500 species
• Tallest and oldest trees

• Woody plants
• Mostly evergreen
Metasequoia Araucaria
• needle-shaped
or flattened leaves
•Mostly wind-pollinated

Picea
Phylum Pinophyta Pinales (= Coniferales) - Pinus

Pines (Pinus)

• Native to northern hemisphere

• Adapted to dry areas

thick cuticle
sunken stomata
narrow xylem tracheids

• Male and female cones

on the same tree (monoecious)

• Wind pollinated

• Needle-like leaves in bundles

Pinus longaeva

Bristlecone pine
(Pinus longaeva),
which is found in the
White Mountains of
California

4,723 years old!

 Phylum Gnetophyta
Genus Gnetum
• 35 living species
• Varies from tropical trees, shrubs, and vines
• Leaves similar to flowering plants

Genus Ephedra
• 40 living species
• Found in arid regions