Question

Which group is largest in gymnosperms?
A. Cycadales
B. Gnetales
C. Coniferales
D. Cordaitales

Answer 1

Hint: The largest group of gymnosperms contains around 630 species among the total of 860 species around the world. Here conifers are the group of gymnosperm plants that produce seeds without fruit or flowers.

Complete answer:
Gymnosperms are the plants which produce seeds without the fruit or flowers or you can say these are the naked seeds plants. Conifers are a group of gymnosperm plants which includes trees like the Giant sequoias of North America which can grow over 110m tall. These are the largest group of gymnosperms because of the presence of 630 species among the total 860 species around the world.

Conifer means the cone-bearing seed plants having vascular tissue. They produce cones within which they produce pollen and grow seeds, pollen is the male cone and seeds are female cones.

They are all woody plants which consist of mostly trees and few shrubby species are also there where they either have needle like leaves. Most species are evergreen. They include pines and other timber species too which are exploited in order to use in construction and paper.

> Option A which is Cycadales then it is the incorrect one since coniferales is the largest group of gymnosperms. Therefore, this option is incorrect and it gets eliminated.

> Option B which is Gnetales, this option is also incorrect as per the above explanation conifers are the largest group of gymnosperms. Therefore, this option is incorrect and it gets eliminated.

> Option C which is coniferales, this option is correct one since coniferales includes around 630 of the total 860 species around the world which makes it the largest group of the gymnosperms. Therefore, this option is the correct one.

> Option D is Cordaitales which is not the correct one as there are only 2 species in this group and therefore it cannot be the largest group of gymnosperms. Hence, this is also incorrect

Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

Note: There are a total 860 species around the world of gymnosperms out of which 630 species are in the group of coniferales which makes it the largest group of gymnosperms. These are cone bearing seed plants which consist of mostly woody plants like trees.