Compare Flowering Plants & Conifers

Compare Flowering Plants & Conifers
••• Serg_Velusceac/iStock/GettyImages

Conifers and flowering plants are both vascular plants that have defined structures to carry water and nutrients throughout their structures. Both plant types also reproduce by the production of seeds but the way they go about it is decidedly different.

Conifers

Conifers are gynosperms, which translated means “naked seed.” The seeds produced are not held inside a fruit. Conifers first appeared about 285 million years ago.

Flowering Plants

Flowering plants are angiosperms, which have ovaries that develop into fruits to protect the seeds. They appeared after the conifers, about 135 million years ago.

Conifer Sex Organs

Conifers produce cones, or strobili. Male cones, containing pollen and female cones, containing the eggs can both form on a single tree.

Flowering Plant Sex Organs

Flowering plants have their sex organs in their blossoms. The male organs, the stamens, consist of the anthers that hold the pollen and filaments that support the anthers. The pistil is the female organ made up of the ovaries which hold the ovules, the stigma that catches the pollen and the style that is a tube like structure leading to the ovaries.

Pollination

Conifers produce millions of pollen grains, each with little flaps that help with wind dispersal. Though some flowering plants, such as grasses, depend on wind dispersal, the majority invite the help of insects, birds and animals for pollination. This can be done by displaying colorful blossoms, emitting sweet scents and/or offering nectar for their helpers.

Fertilization

Fertilization occurs when the pollen meets the egg. In conifers the seeds develop in the female cone. In flowering plants, once the pollen grain reaches the ovary the ovules are fertilized. The petals drop off and a fruit begins to form around the developing seeds.

Related Articles

How Do Pine Trees Reproduce?
Differences Between Conifers & Flowering Plants
What Is Function of the Pistil in Flowers?
Do Gymnosperms Produce Flowers & Fruit?
The Life Cycle of Gymnosperms
What Does a Zygote in Plants Develop Into?
What Is the Function of the Anther on a Flower?
What Parts of a Flower Are Involved in Reproduction?
Six Basic Parts of a Plant
The Differences Between Male Pollen & Female Seed Pine...
How Are Conifers & Ferns Different?
How Do the Sperm Nuclei in a Pollen Grain Get to the...
Kinds of Seed Plants
How Do Pine Trees Reproduce?
What Is the Difference Between a Spore & a Pollen Grain?
Parts of Flowers & What They Do
The Difference Between Seeds and Spores
Male & Female Reproductive Parts of a Flower

Dont Go!

We Have More Great Sciencing Articles!