2. Sketch the life cycle of a conifer. Include all relevant terms from p.10 of this chapter. One characteristic of Pinophytes (and many other non-flowering plants) worthy of note is their cones (which are actually strobili, the same structure observed in vascular non-seed plants like club mosses and horsetails). Non-flowering seed plants typically produce both male and female cones (the plants may either be monoecious or dioecious, depending on the lineage). Both male and female cones are formed of many scales (leaf-like structures) surrounding a central axis (the stem-like structure the scales emerge from); microsporangia or megasporangia are found at the base of the scales. The male cones contain numerous microsporangia that produce haploid microspores (there are typically hundreds of microspores produced per microsporangium; a microsporangium typically ends up looking like a large hollow sac containing hundreds of tiny free-floating microspores). These microspores grow into small (four-celled) microgametophytes; when the microgametophytes are mature they are called pollen grains. Female cones have ovules in them; each ovule contains a megasporangium surrounded by integument. The ovules of the female cones are typically found at the base of the cone's scales (which are typically much larger and stronger than the scales of male cones). The megasporangium produces megaspores that grow into megagametophytes. Each megagametophyte houses at least one archegonium, which develops an egg that is fertilized by the sperm from a pollen grain. The fertilized egg becomes a zygote, which eventually develops into a embryo (that is diploid) surrounded by the tissue of the meqagametophyte develops into a embryo (that is diploid) surrounded by the tissue of the megagametophyte (which develops into haploid nutritive tissue) and the megasporangium (which develops into the seed coat). A mature seed is composed of a seed coat surrounding nutritive tissue and the embryo; gymnosperm seeds do not have endosperm, and are not contained in a fruit. The seeds are released into the environment, where they can germinate and grow into a sporophyte plant..