408 
STRUCTURE AND LIFE HISTORIES 
362. Gymnospermy. The fact that the seed is not 
enclosed within the carpels, or walls of the ovary, but 
continues wholly exposed throughout its existence, until 
FIG. 303. Cycas media. Germinating seeds, e, endosperm (gameto- 
phyte); c. cotyledons; st, leaf-stalk; h, hypocotyl, showing early enlarge- 
ment to form the thick trunk shown in Fig. 291. 
shed, is one of the most significant of all the features of 
the cycads. On this feature, and its opposite, the great 
division of seed-bearing plants (Spermatophytes) is sepa- 
rated into two classes as follows: 
Spermatophytes 
J Gymnosperms 
\ Angiosperms 
The word gymnosperm means "naked seed," 1 while 
1 From the Greek, gymnos (yvnvos), naked + sperma (airkpna.}, seed. 
