Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - gymnosperm

 noun  Etymology: ultimately from Greek gymnos + sperma seed — more at sperm  Date: circa 1838 any of a group of vascular plants that produce naked seeds not enclosed in an ovary, that were formerly considered a class (Gymnospermae) of seed plants, but that are now considered polyphyletic in origin and divided into several extinct divisions and four divisions with surviving members typified by the cycadophytes, conifers, ginkgo, and ephedras — compare angiosperm  • ~ous adjective  • ~y noun