Question

What is the point of ginkgo trees having fleshy seeds? They are gymnosperms and do not produce fruit so, why did they evolve fleshy seeds?

Answer 1

The gingko evolved the fleshy seed coats as the process of reproduction is here by motile sperms so the seeds are not much large.So the seeds of ginko needs to be dispersed and they germinate only when they fall on a favourable substratum.So if the seeds fall from trees they should not perish very soon so the fleshy seeds will provide nutrition to the growing embryo.In other conifers like cycads because of large seed sizes they can be dispersed by the large bodied animals much easily and also are very hard so they dont need fleshy coats .