Introduction to Seed Plants

When did seed plants first arise? What did they replace?

the Late Carboniferous; Lycopod forests

What does the word “gymnosperm” mean?

Naked (“gymno”) Seed (“sperm”)

About how many gymnosperm species are there?

1079

True or False: All seed plants are hetersporous.

True

What is a seed?

A reproductive unit consisting of three parts of a plant life cycle—mother sporophyte covering/integument (2n), a nutritive megagametophyte (n), and next generation baby sporophyte/embry0 (2n)

An unfertilized seed is called an ___.

ovule

How do sperms reach the eggs held on the mother plants?

air

What do a gymnosperm’s microspores develop into?

a few-celled male gametophyte - pollen

What happens when pollen (a male gametophyte) reaches the micropyle?

it develops to produce sperm to fertilize the egg