Gymnosperms vs Angiosperms | 20 Clear Differences in Points

Gymnosperms are considered as primitive plants while the angiosperms are advanced. There are a few characteristic differences between them.

Gymnosperms vs Angiosperms

Sl.No	Charecter	Gymnosperms	Angiosperms
1	Basic feature	These are non-flowering plants which produce seeds	These are flowering plants which produce seeds.
2	Seed feature	The seeds are naked and found in scales, leaves, or as cones.	The seeds are very well enclosed in the ovary of the plant.
3	Leaf scar	The leaves have a scar as the characteristic feature.	No leaf scar is present
4	Leaf anatomy	The leaves are usually dimorphic. The foliage leaves are green, simple, needle-like, or pinnately compounded while the scaly leaves are usually minute and deciduous.	The leaves are usually flat with having a proper lamina, petiole and can be simple or compound in nature.
5	Life cycle	The leaves are evergreen or perennial.	The leaves are shed off and die during autumn.
6	Plant form	Gymnosperms are mostly woody plants	Angiosperms have a variety of plants forms as trees, shrubs, and herbs.
7	Wood	A soft type of wood.	usually hardwood
8	Reproduction	The cones in gymnosperms are unisexual in nature	The flowers in angiosperms can be bisexual or unisexual.
9	Pollination method	Usually wind pollination	The angiosperms also rely on animals for pollination.
10	Cotyledons	absent in gymnosperms	Cotyledons present cotyledons and are divided further into monocots and dicots
11	No. of a set of chromosomes	a haploid set of chromosomes	Diploid set of chromosomes.
12	Xylem vessels and companion cells	Only found in Gnetales	Found in most of the plants except some vessel-less genera
13	ovary, style, and stigma	Absent	Present
14	Double fertilization, triple fusion phenomena	Double fertilization and triple fusion phenomena absent	Angiosperm exhibits the triple fusion and double fertilization in their life cycle.
15	Endosperm formation	Endosperm formation in gymnosperms occurs before fertilization	The endosperm formation in angiosperms takes place after fertilization as a result of triple fusion, and hence, it is triploid.
16	Nuclear divisions	free nuclear divisions occur in the zygote of gymnosperms	free nuclear divisions are not seen in the zygote of angiosperms.
17	Tissue formation	The tissues in gymnosperms are less complex than the angiosperms. The tissue remains simple.	The tissue formed in angiosperms is more complex than gymnosperms.
18	Distribution	The gymnosperms are evergreen trees and shrubs with xerophytic adaptations. They are mostly found in areas that do not have enough water. There are about 1,000 species found.	The angiosperms have a variety of trees, shrubs, and herbs found in seasonal weather. This group is the most populated group having over 260,000species recorded to date, which holds second position after insects in terms of their diversity.
19	Uses to man	They are commonly used for the lumber: pine, spruce, fir.	The angiosperms provide all plant-based food as well as livestock feed. Grains, fruits, legumes, nightshades, potatoes, tomatoes, gourds, cabbages are all angiosperms products.
20	Examples	Pine, spruce, fir , cycads, pinus, conifers, Ginkgo biloba, zamia, etc.	lilies, orchids , grasses, roses, peas, oaks, maples, sunflowers, eucalyptus, etc.