Question

Do gymnosperms have an ovary?

Answer 1

Gymnosperms have distinguished plant parts, vascular tissue, as well as seeds for reproduction. However, the seeds are ‘naked’, they do not have any coverage in the form of fruits. This also means there are no flowers and thus the ovary is absent in them.

Complete answer:
In gymnosperms, the ovule is naked because the ovary wall is absent and therefore the ovules stay unprotected and naked. Normally the placenta are inner sidewalls of the ovary where the ovules are bounded.
Their seeds are without the covering in the ovary thus comes under the category of phanerogams but without the ovary. Their plant body is sporophytic and is differentiated into roots, stems, and leaves. The presence of leaf-scar in the stem is an important feature.
If a plant body is differentiated into true roots, stem, and leaves, it can be a pteridophyte, gymnosperm, or an angiosperm. If it does not have this level of differentiation, it is either a thallophyta or a bryophyte.
- If this plant possesses seeds, it is either a gymnosperm or an angiosperm. If it does not, it is a pteridophyte or a cryptogam.
Gymnosperms belong to the group of plants that produce seeds that develop on the surface of scales or leaves. These leaves are later modified and form cones. Around 319 million years ago in the late Carboniferous period, they originated and replaced the lycopsida rainforest of the tropical region resulting in a whole-genome duplication.

Note:
The term gymnosperm is derived from the Greek word gymnos meaning “naked “ and Sperma meaning “seed”. Gymnosperms have a life cycle that is sporophyte-dominant as found in other vascular plants as well. The gymnosperms are responsible for the occurrence of the ancestors of flowering plants in the Triassic period (245-202 million years ago).