Kingdom Plantae: Gymnosperms

Kingdom Plantae:
Gymnosperms
Gymnosperms
• Phylum Cycadophyta (cycads)
• Phylum Coniferophyta (conifers)
• Phylum Ginkgophyta (gingko)
• Phylum Gnetophyta (gnetophytes)
Gymnosperm life cycle
• Exhibits alternation of generations
• Sporophyte generation (2n) is dominant
• Gametophyte generation (1n) is contained in and
dependent on the sporophyte generation
copyright cmassengale 3
Phylum Cycadophyta (cycads)
• Small (about 200 species)
• Mainly tropical
– 1 U.S. species: found in Florida (Zamia pumila)
• Sporophyte features:
– Trunk woody
– Leaves often spiny and pinnately compound
(divided into thin sections: feather-like).
Note
woody
trunk Pinnately compound
leaf
– Pollen made in pollen cones
Encephalartos pollen cones

– Seeds made in seed cones
Encephalartos
female cone
Megasporophylls of Cycas Ovule-bearing leaf

(megasporophyll) of cone
– Plants dioecious: separate male and female
individuals.
Cycas revoluta female Cycas revoluta male

• Importance:
– Some used horticulturally: Cycas revoluta (sago palm)
• Importance:
– Some are endangered in the
wild
– Example: South Africa has
40 species, all endangered
• Importance:
– Since 1965, must have
permit to own cycad in
South Africa
– One species extinct in wild.
All plants left are males in
gardens! Propagated by
suckers (side branches).
Encephalartos woodii, known

only from male plants
• Importance:
– Was a dominant land plant group during dinosaur
era (Mesozoic Era).
Phylum Coniferophyta (conifers)
• Largest gymnosperm group: 600 species
• Dominates biomes in far north and south
temperate zones
• Many species with narrow leaves (needle-
leaved trees)
• Examples: Pines (Pinus), Junipers (Juniperus),
Firs (Abies), Cypresses (Taxodium)
• Importance:
– Also dominant group during Mesozoic Era (dinosaur
time!)
Extinct Conifers
• Example, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
• Most trees there are extinct conifers whose trunks are
mineralized.
• Importance:
– Conifer forest biome
(covers large part of
Earth’s landmass)
Conifer forests occupy high

Temperate rain forest in
mountains in North America
Washington/Alaska
• Importance: Light green
– Currently dominant in parts of North is taiga or
(and South) Temperate Zones boreal forest
(conifers)
• Importance:
– Some communities in southeast dominated by conifers
– Example, cypress (Taxodium) swamps
Cypress branch Cypress swamp near Monroeville AL

• Importance:
– Some communities in southeast
dominated by conifers
– Example, cypress (Taxodium) swamps
BIOL 6140 (Plant Ecology) classes explore swamps on field trips

• Importance:
– Biological records (largest
tree)
– Sequoiadendron gigantea (big
tree)
– In Sequoia National Park, CA
– Base: 102 feet circumference
– Weight: 2,145 tons
– Volume: 52,500 cubic feet.
• Importance:
– Sequoiadendron gigantea
(big tree)
• Importance:
– Biological records (oldest
tree)
– Bristlecone Pine (Pinus
longaeva). Found in high
mountains of deserts of
California, Nevada, Utah,
Colorado, etc.
• Importance:
– Oldest tree was 4,950
years. Cut down in 1964
by graduate student who
got corer stuck in tree
(U.S. Forest Service gave
permission!)
– Now oldest known
bristlecone (named
Methuselah) is 4,767
years old. Location kept
secret from public!
• Importance:
– Biological records
(tallest living tree)
– Coast redwood
(Sequoia
sempervirens)
– Grow on coast of
California/Oregon (ex,
Redwood National
Park)
– 96% have been logged
• Importance:
– Biological records (tallest living
tree)
– Coast redwood (Sequoia
sempervirens)
– Tallest tree is 368 feet tall!.
• Importance:
– Biological records (smallest trees?)
– Pygmy forest in Mendocino County, CA
• Importance:
– Biological records (smallest trees?)
– Pygmy forest in Mendocino County,
CA
– Hardpan (like cement) forms at
about 1 foot depth
– Dry in summer, floods in winter.
• Importance:
– Stress makes conifers (a pine
and a cypress species) stunted
The trees on
the right had
about 30 rings
(30 yr old!)
• Conifers in Southern Hemisphere too
• Example, Wollemi “Pine” (Australia)
• Thought extinct, small stand found in in
1994. 40 plants! Discoverer
David
Noble
Pine Life-Cycle
pollen cone male or
pollen
cone
Female or ovulate cone

ovulate cone
male cone
microsporophyll
microsporangium
female cone
ovule .
mega-
sporangium
scale
“megasporophyll”
seeds
scale
Conifers: Economic
Importance
– Harvest for pulp and timber
– Can cause controversy, especially
when old-growth and clearcuts
involved.
Conifers: Economic Importance
– Importance in Alabama: forestry #1 legal
agricultural crop
– Many pine plantations in southeast.
– Edible (pine “nuts” are pine seeds)
– Harvested from several species, including pinyon
pine from western U.S. (shown below).
Pinyon
pine
Pine seeds
– Medicines: example, taxol
– Antitumor agent. First extracted from bark of Pacific
Yew (Taxus) tree
– Now made synthetically.
Pacific Yew, showing

needles and bark
• Importance:
– Threatened by humans (acid rain and forest decline)
– Acid rain areas (below) include some conifer
forests.
• Importance:
– Acid rain and others
stresses cause “forest
decline”, weakness
and death of conifer
trees
– Seen in N. Europe
and N. America.
Damage/death of fir
trees in Tennessee
Phylum Ginkgophyta (Ginkgo)
• Tiny group (1 living species: Ginkgo biloba)
• Also called maidenhair tree
• Living fossil: Leaf fossils 150 million years old
Photo of modern and fossil Gingko leaves

• May be oldest living species on Earth!
Dinosaurs under a Ginkgo tree in the Mesozoic fall

• Today considered extinct in wild
• Ancient trees (to 3,000 years old!) found in
China & Japan, in temple gardens and places
tended by people.
Ancient temple tree in China

• Leaves winter deciduous, fan-shaped, with
dichotomously-branching veins
• Made on stubby “short shoots” on branches
Short shoots with

leaf scars
• Gingko very useful horticultural tree
• Pollution resistant, makes beautiful street tree
A very old bonsai Ginkgo in fall on Japanese street

Ginkgo
Phylum Ginkgophyta (Gingko)
• A-bomb resistant!
• This tree in Hiroshima,
Japan, was 1.1 km from
where the first Atomic
bomb was used in 1945.
Phylum Ginkgophyta (Gingko)
• Medical uses:
• May improve
circulation, memory
• Still under study
• Pills of leaf extract
Ginkgo farm (top) and drying
worth millions of $/yr. leaves (bottom)
Phylum Gnetophyta (gnetophytes)
• Small group (70 species)
• Only gymnosperms with vessels in xylem
(large, dead water-conducting cells)
• Three genera (2 mentioned here):
– Welwitschia from Namib desert (Africa)
– Odd, only 2 leaves!
Old plant in Namib desert

Young plant grown in pipe
section (long taproot)
– Ephedra from many deserts of world
Shrub is mostly branches (ovules seen on right

– This shrub was original source of drug
ephedrine
– Used as stimulant, weight loss aid, may have
side effects (stroke, etc.).
You can buy

You can also find lawyers to help you
ephedrine on the
sue the makers of ephedrine pills!
internet

Kingdom Plantae: Gymnosperms

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Kingdom Plantae:

Encephalartos pollen cones

Megasporophylls of Cycas Ovule-bearing leaf

Cycas revoluta female Cycas revoluta male

Encephalartos woodii, known

Conifer forests occupy high

Cypress branch Cypress swamp near Monroeville AL

BIOL 6140 (Plant Ecology) classes explore swamps on field trips

Female or ovulate cone

Pacific Yew, showing

Photo of modern and fossil Gingko leaves

Dinosaurs under a Ginkgo tree in the Mesozoic fall

Ancient temple tree in China

Short shoots with

A very old bonsai Ginkgo in fall on Japanese street

Old plant in Namib desert

Shrub is mostly branches (ovules seen on right

You can buy

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