Gymnosperms are a group of plants that produce seeds without enclosing them in a fruit or ovary. They bear naked seeds because they lack an ovary. Ovary is a part of the flower that contains the ovules which eventually develop into seeds. In gymnosperms, the ovules are not enclosed in an ovary, and they are exposed on the surface of the scales of a cone or a modified leaf. The lack of an ovary is one of the characteristics that distinguish gymnosperms from angiosperms, which are flowering plants that produce seeds enclosed in a fruit or ovary.