Wprowadzenie do roślin nasiennych

The most successful major group - the seed plants - includes almost 400,000 species. Seed plants themselves are divided into two groups - the first being the gymnosperms, which are predominantly conifers, but also includes plants like cycads or ginkgos. 

The second group is the angiosperms, which includes over 90 percent of known plant species, including magnoliids and other flowering trees, all fruits, and flowering plants.

As seed plants, both gymnosperms and angiosperms share several key features. First, their life cycles are dominated by the sporophyte stage. Second, they have microscopic gametophytes which form haploid gametes - including female gametes called ovules which are typically housed in structures like cones or ovaries to protect and nourish them.

The male counterpart gametes called pollen grains are formed in separate structures, and are easily dispersed by environmental methods like wind, or animals, to hopefully encounter and fertilize the female gametes.

Finally, once fertilized, these now diploid structures form seeds - structures which contain nourishment for the future seedling.

Here, the differences between the lineages begins - while gymnosperms’ seeds are t