Gymnosperms include trees and shrubs that produce uncovered seeds, typically in cones, and do not produce flowers. The more easily recognized gymnosperms are the conifers; cedars, cypresses, firs, pines, redwoods, and spruces, but also included are cycads, ginkgoes, and gnetophytes.

Conifers have needlelike or scalelike leaves. Their seeds usually grow on the upper inside of the scales that make up their cones. Cones range in size and shape from the football sized cone of the sugar pine, to the juniper's tiny berrylike cones. Most conifers are evergreen and are the main source of wood for construction and paper, not to mention a source of food and shelter to many species of animals.

Cycads and Ginkgo have been on the earth for millions of years and once populated vast regions of land. Most cycads look like and would be mistaken for palm trees. Their branchless trunk is topped by a crown of long leaves, but unlike palm trees, they bear their seeds in open carpophylls or seed-bearing leaves. Only one kind of ginkgo survives today. It is an ornamental tree with flat, fan-shaped leaves. It bears it's naked seeds at the ends of short stalks along its branches.

Gnetophytes are the gymnosperms thought to be most closely related to angiosperms. Many of their features resemble those of flowering plants. For example, Gnetum has broad, oval-shaped leaves and special water-transport tubes, much like those of angiosperms. The cones of all gnetophytes are flowerlike in many details.

Ferns are typically found in moist, wooded regions and they vary widely in size and form. Some species of aquatic ferns have leaves about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) long, where in some tropical regions, tree ferns may grow to 65 feet (20 meters) high. Fern leaves (fronds) are usually made up of many smaller leaflets and may be very large. With most ferns, the plant stem is underground, with the fronds being the only visible parts.

Lycopsids include club mosses, quillworts, and selaginellas and are identifeid as having leaves with a single, central vein. Lycopsids were among the first terrestrial plants.

Club mosses, which in fact are not true mosses, have tiny scalelike leaves, some grow in a spiral pattern around the plant. They are often found forming a dense carpet on forest floors.

Quillworts have short stems and long, grasslike leaves and can be found in moist soils around lakes or streams with leaves usually growing to about 14 inches (36 centimeters) long. 290 million years ago, plants related to quillworts grew up to 120 feet (37 meters) tall.

Selaginellas are usually found in tropical and subtropical regions and often grow on damp forest floors. Selaginellas have small thin leaves and their stems may either grow upright or along the ground.

Horsetails are a group of small perennial plants that spread by creeping rhizomes and have leaves reduced to nodal sheaths on hollow jointed ribbed shoots. Horsetails can grow to about 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 centimeters) tall. The plants have tiny, black leaves and green stems that capture sunlight used by the plant to make food in photosynthesis. Tiny amounts of concentrated minerals are found in the stems of horsetails, one such being silica, which is what gives the stems the texture of sandpaper. Some species of horsetails are called scouring rush because people once used these plants to scour pots and pans.

Bryophytes are a group of plants made up of mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. Bryophytes can be found in almost all ecoregions of the world, from the frigid Arctic to warm tropical forests. They are the only types of plants that are non-vascular.

Most mosses, liverworts, and hornworts are less than 8 inches (20 centimeters) tall. None of these plants have true roots as we typically recognize on trees and flowers, they have hairy rootlike growths called rhizoids that anchor the plants to soil and other objects and absorb water and minerals.