Chapter 22

Lecture Outline

Introduction to
Seed Plants:
Gymnosperms

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 Outline
 Introduction

 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers

 Other Gymnosperms
• Phylum Ginkgophyta – Ginkgo
• Phylum Cycadophyta – The Cycads
• Phylum Gnetophyta – The Gnetophytes

 Human Relevance of Gymnosperms

• Conifers
• Other Gymnosperms
 Introduction
 Seeds provide a significant adaptation for
plants on land.
• Advantages:

 First seed plants fernlike in appearance =

pteridosperms (seed ferns) - Reclassified as
gymnosperms
 Introduction
 Gymnosperm =

• Seeds produced on
surface of sporophylls
or similar structures

• Large Reproductive
Structure: Seed-
bearing and pollen-
bearing sporophylls
often arranged in
___________.
 Introduction
 Male Cones = Pollen cones produce:
 Female Cones: contain ovules that becomes
the seeds
• Reproductive Tissue: Each ovule contains the
Female Sporangium (Nucellus) enclosed in
integument.
– Integument becomes seed coat of seed.
• Female Gametophyte: is produced by female
sporangium within cone and remains in cone.
– Size: even more reduced in cell number than are ferns
and their relatives.
– Does not grow independently, but develops within
sporophyte structures and eventually produces egg.
 Introduction
 Four living phyla
• Pinophyta - Pines, firs, spruces, cedars
– Fossils date back to late Carboniferous, 290 million
years ago.
• Ginkgophyta - Has single living representative,
Ginkgo
– Tree with fan-shaped leaves
– Seeds enclosed in fleshy covering.
• Cycadophyta - Leaves superficially palmlike.
• Gnetophyta - Three genera
– Wood with vessels
 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers
 Pines (Pinus)
• Dominant trees in
coniferous forests of
Northern Hemisphere
– Include world’s oldest
known living organisms -
Bristlecone pines
• Structure and form:
– Leaves needlelike and
arranged in clusters of
two to five leaves.
– Cluster = fascicle
– Fascicles = short shoots -
Have restricted growth
 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers
 Pines - Structure and form:
– Have modifications that enable them to survive harsh
conditions
o Hypodermis located below the epidermis.
« One to two layers of thick-walled cells
o Thick cuticle
o Recessed or sunken stomata
o Resin canals
« Resin is antiseptic and aromatic, prevents
development of fungi, and deters insects.
o Mycorrhizal fungi associated with roots of most
conifers.
 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers
 Pines - Structure and form:
• Wood consists entirely of tracheids.
– Conifer wood = softwood - Thick-walled cells absent.
– Broadleaf tree (dicot) wood = hardwood - Thick-walled vessels
and fibers present.
 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers
 Pines
• Reproduction:
– Two kinds of
spores produced.
– Pollen cones (male
strobili) consist of
papery or
membranous
scales.
o Microsporangia
in pairs toward
bases of scales.
 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers
 Pines
• Reproduction:
– Meiosis produces
microspores that
then develop into
pollen grains.
o Pollen grain
consists of four
cells and a pair
of air sacs.
« Air sacs add
buoyancy in
wind.
 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers
 Pines
• Reproduction:
– Megaspores in
megasporangia within
ovules.
o Pair of ovules at bases
of seed cone scales.
– Seed cones larger than
pollen cones.
o Have woody scales
with inconspicuous
bracts between
 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers
 Pines - Reproduction:
• Ovule contains a
megasporangium containing
a megasporangium and a
single megasporocyte.
• Megasporangium surrounded
by integument.
– Integument has a pore called
micropyle.
• Megasporocyte undergoes
meiosis, producing four
megaspores.
– Three megaspores
degenerate.
– Remaining megaspore develops into female gametophyte with
archegonia at micropyle end.
 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers
 Pines - Reproduction:
– Seed cones take two years to mature.
– First year:
o Pollen grains catch on sticky pollen drops oozing out
of micropyle.
o Pollen grain produces pollen tube that grows through
microphyle.
« Two sperms produced in pollen tube.
« Mature male gametophyte = germinated pollen
grain with pollen tube and two sperm
« Sperm have no flagella and no antheridium is
formed.
o Megaspore develops.
 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers
 Pines - Reproduction:
– Second year:
o Female gametophyte and archegonium mature.
o Pollen tube arrives at archegonium.
o One sperm unites with egg, forming zygote.
« Other sperm degenerates.
– Embryo nourished by female gametophyte.
– Integument becomes seed coat.
 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers
 Pines - Reproduction:
 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers
 Other Conifers:
• Yew (Taxus) and California
nutmeg (Torreya) produce
ovules singly at tips of
shoots.
– Each ovule at least partially Taxus
surrounded by fleshy, cuplike
aril.
• Southern hemisphere conifer
- Podocarpus
– Fleshy-coated seeds with large
appendage at base
Podocarpus
• Junipers - Seed cones fleshy.
 Other Gymnosperms
 Phylum Ginkgophyta –
Ginkgo (maidenhair trees)
• Only one living species
– Only exists in cultivation
• Notched, broad, fan-shaped
leaves
– Leaves on short, slow-growing
spurs.
o No midrib or prominent veins
o Hair-like veins branch
dichotomously.
o Deciduous
 Other Gymnosperms
 Phylum Ginkgophyta
• Life cycle similar to pines.
– Dioecious - Male and female
structures on separate trees.
– Seeds enclosed in fleshy seed
coat with nauseating odor.

Seeds and leaves

Male strobili
 Other Gymnosperms
 Phylum Cycadophyta – The Cycads
• Slow-growing plants of tropics and subtropics
• Tall unbranched trunks
• Crown of large pinnately divided leaves

• Life cycle similar

to conifers.
– Pollination
sometimes by
beetles.
– Dioecious
– Has pollen and
seed strobili
Male cycad Female cycad
 Other Gymnosperms
 Phylum Gnetophyta
– The Gnetophytes Part of
plant
• Unique among the
gymnosperms in
having vessels in the
Male
xylem. strobili
• Joint firs (Ephedra) -
Shrubby plants of
drier regions of
southwestern North
Female
America strobilus

Ephedra
 Other Gymnosperms
 Phylum Gnetophyta – The Gnetophytes
• Gnetum - Vine-like plants with broad leaves
– In tropics
 Other Gymnosperms
 Phylum Gnetophyta – The Gnetophytes
• Welwitschia - Only one species, confined to
deserts of southwestern Africa
– Short stem
– Long taproot
– Only two
straplike leaves
that become
tattered and
split
– Dioecious
– Has male and
female strobili
 Human Relevance of Gymnosperms
 Conifers
• Edible inner bark and needles of white pine, and seeds of
nearly all pines
• Masts in sailing vessels
• Crates, boxes, matchsticks, furniture
• Telephone poles, railroad ties, mine timbers
• Turpentine and rosin (both from resin)
• Fuel
• Pulpwood
• Construction lumber
• Ornamentals
• Pharmaceuticals (taxol for ovarian cancer from yew trees)
 Human Relevance of Gymnosperms
 Other Gymnosperms
• Ginkgo:
– Seeds for food (after seed coat removal)
– Ginkgo extracts to increase blood circulation
• Ephedra - Mormon tea
– Drug ephedrine for respiratory problems from a
Chinese species
 Review
 Introduction

 Phylum Pinophyta – The Conifers

 Other Gymnosperms
• Phylum Ginkgophyta – Ginkgo
• Phylum Cycadophyta – The Cycads
• Phylum Gnetophyta – The Gnetophytes

 Human Relevance of Gymnosperms

• Conifers
• Other Gymnosperms