Del Meidinger, BC Ministry of Forests, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Published online: May 2005
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003680
Gymnosperms are a diverse group of plants with the common characteristic of having a ‘naked’, or unprotected, seed. Historically common, today only about 900 species exist worldwide. Though found in a wide variety of habitats, gymnosperms dominate many northern hemisphere landscapes.
Keywords: conifers; cycads; Ginkgo; gnetophytes
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Figure 1. Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) – a majestic conifer of Pacific coastal North America.
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Figure 2. Comparison of gymnosperm (Picea glauca) and angiosperm (rose family) flower and fruit morphology.
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| Further Reading | |
| book Beck, CB (ed.) (1988) Origin and Evolution of Gymnosperms. New York: Columbia University Press. | |
| Bond WJ (1989) The tortoise and the hare: ecology of angiosperm dominance and gymnosperm persistence. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 36: 227–249. | |
| ePath Earle CJ Gymnosperm Database. http://www.conifers.org. | |
| book Enright, NJ and Hill, RS (eds) (1995) Ecology of the Southern Conifers. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. | |
| book Richardson, DM (ed.) (1998) Ecology and Biogeography of Pinus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | |
| ePath Royal Botanic Gardens. Sydney. The Cycad Pages. http://plantnet.rbgsyd.gov.au/PlantNet/cycad/. | |
| ePath University of California, Berkeley. Introduction to the Cycads. Legacy of the Mesozoic. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/seedplants/cycadophyta/cycads.html. | |
| book Whitelock LM (2002) The Cycads. Portland, OR: Timber Press. | |
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