Difference Between Gymnosperms and Ferns

Ferns and gymnosperms are taxonomic units belonging to higher plants. In different geological periods, they became the title plants on Earth, so today their remains are a storehouse of paleontological information. Without one of these plants, reserves of oil and coal in the bowels of the earth would never have been formed, and without any of them, higher angiosperms, which are the basis of Homo sapiens nutrition, could not have formed.

Definition

ferns- These are plants belonging to the Fern-like department of the Plant Kingdom.

Comparison

Ferns appeared on Earth at the beginning of the Devonian period. At the end of the Paleozoic - the beginning of the Mesozoic, they dominated the flora of the planet. But gymnosperms today prevail in the green mass of the planet.

The main characteristic of gymnosperms is the seed. The ovules of these organisms are not covered by a closed receptacle, but, having transformed into seeds, openly lie or are attached to the scales of the cone, which all representatives of the group have.

Ferns reproduce by spores or vegetatively. They are characterized by an alternation of sexual and asexual generations with a predominance of the sporotophyte generation.

Ferns form first leaves - fronds, which are a system of stems united in a horizontal plane.

Home fern Nephrolepis

Gymnosperms are monoecious. This means that both male and female cones can be located on the same tree. Most ferns are dioecious organisms, and can also change "sex" depending on living conditions.

Findings site

1. Ferns reproduce by spores, while gymnosperms reproduce by seeds.
2. Ferns grow fronds, and gymnosperms grow needles.
3. Ferns appeared on Earth earlier than gymnosperms.
4. Gymnosperms today are the main forest-forming species on the planet and the main producers of oxygen, and ferns were the most common plants on the planet in the Paleozoic-Mesozoic eras.
5. Gymnosperms are trees, while ferns can be either herbaceous or woody forms.
6. Most gymnosperms are evergreens, and ferns of temperate latitudes lose their green mass during the cold period.
7. Gymnosperms are monoecious plants, while ferns are dioecious.