gymnospermy

Variant of gymnosperm

noun

any of a large division (Pinophyta) of seed plants having the ovules borne on open scales, usually in cones, and usually lacking true vessels in the woody tissue, including seed ferns, cycads, conifers, and the ginkgo

Origin: ModL gymnospermus < Gr gymnospermos: see gymno- & -sperm

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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