14. Gymnosperm Cone

This is a picture of a female pine cone. A pine cone is an example of a gymnosperm cone.Gymno in greek means "naked" and sperm in greek means "seed" thus gymnosperm literally translates to "naked seed". This is true because a gymnosperm is a vascular plant that's seeds are not enclosed in an ovary, but rather the seeds are in a cone such as the one seen in the above picture. Angiosperms are the opposite of gymnosperms and have seeds that are enclosed in an ovary. Most gymnosperms consist of cone bearing trees or shrubs. Some examples of gymnosperm cones are conifer cones, cycad cones, ginkgo cones, etc.