Gymnosperm

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/gymnosperm

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Gymnospermae
2. What is the economic and medicinal value?Source of timber, paper, resins, and vital pharmaceutical compounds like taxol
3. What are gymnosperms and why are they called "naked seed" plants?Gymnosperms are plants that make seeds that are not inside a fruit. Their seeds grow on the outside of cone scales, so we call them "naked" seeds.
4. How do gymnosperms pollinate their seeds without flowers?Gymnosperms use wind to move their pollen. Tiny pollen grains from male cones float in the air until they reach female cones and fertilize the ovules.

Gymnosperm: A division of vascular plants characterized by having seeds not enclosed in an ovary, typically borne in cones.
Anemophily: Pollination by wind, a common mechanism in gymnosperms due to exposed pollen and seeds.
Sporophyte: The diploid multicellular stage in the life cycle of a plant or alga that produces spores.