There are several key evolutionary adaptations in gymnosperm compared to earlier plants groups, being four of the major adaptations the:
- They produce pollen (a sperm containing pollen);
- They do not need water for reproduce, being the sperm carried through the air;
- They have seeds that protect the fertilized egg cell on land by making possible that the plant can survive in a dry space and stay for viable for much more time than happened in the earlier plants groups;
- The development of stomata, cuticle, and other structures that regulate the levels of water evaporation, also having the support structures to maintain the plant in position without the need of a body of water.