The gymnosperms consist of five orders of seed plants: Cupressales, Cycadales, Ginkgoales, Gnetales and Pinales. They developed more than 350 million years ago, long before flowering plants, according to the fossil record. The name comes from the Greek for "naked seed"; the egg cells are not protected by ovaries, as in flowering plants. Gymnosperms are divided into 12 families of trees, shrubs and woody vines. Sequoiadendron giganteum, the giant redwood, is the largest tree in the world, and Sequoia sempervirens, the coastal redwood, is the tallest. Ginkgo trees tolerate urban pollutants well, and are often planted in and near cities. The pine family is the main source of softwood timber, paper pulp and turpentine. The flexible wood of the yew family is used in longbows and musical instruments.
Glossary From the glossary of botanical terms:
deciduous: falling seasonally, as with bark, leaves, or petals unisexual: of one sex; bearing only male or only female reproductive organs woody: hard and lignified; not herbaceous
Families
See also List of plant family names with etymologies
Notes
Citations
References Burkhardt, Lotte (2018). Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition [Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2018. ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5. S2CID 187926901. Retrieved January 1, 2021. See the Creative Commons license. Christenhusz, Maarten; Fay, Michael Francis; Chase, Mark Wayne (2017). Plants of the World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Vascular Plants. Chicago, Illinois: Kew Publishing and The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-52292-0. Coombes, Allen J. (2012). The A to Z of Plant Names: A Quick Reference Guide to 4000 Garden Plants. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN 978-1-60469-196-2. IPNI (2022). "International Plant Names Index". London, Boston and Canberra: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; and the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved December 20, 2022. POWO (2019). "Plants of the World Online". London: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved September 27, 2023. See their terms-of-use license. Stearn, William (2002). Stearn's Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners. London: Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-36469-5. Stevens, P.F. (2023) [2001]. "Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Gymnosperms". Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved September 27, 2023. Turland, N. J.; et al. (eds.). International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Shenzhen Code) adopted by the Nineteenth International Botanical Congress Shenzhen, China, July 2017 (electronic ed.). Glashütten: International Association for Plant Taxonomy. Retrieved February 25, 2022.





