Abstract
The gymnosperms (an ancient group of plants) date back to the Devonian (395–359 my BP—million years before present). These plants constituted most of the world’s dominant vegetation throughout the Late Palaeozoic (350–250 my BP), Mesozoic (141–65 my BP) and steadily declined thereafter. In the Tertiary (65 my BP) while the gymnosperms declined, the angiosperms evolved steadily. Thereafter, the angiosperms became dominant and the gymnosperms occupied a secondary position. At present there are ca. 72 genera and 760 species. These are grouped into seven orders: Cycadales, Ginkgoales, Coniferales, Taxales, Ephedrales, Welwitschiales and Gnetales.
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Biswas, C., Johri, B.M. (2001). Reproductive Biology of Gymnosperms. In: Johri, B.M., Srivastava, P.S. (eds) Reproductive Biology of Plants. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-50133-3_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-50133-3_10
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