Close-up of a larch tree showing immature, female cones. Female cones bear an ovule at the base of each scale, whereas the smaller male cones produce pollen. The larches are members of the pine family, Pinaceae, and belong to a group of plants called Gymnosperms, which means 'naked seeds'. This refers to the fact that the ovules, and the seeds into which they develop, are carried on the outside of the female 'flower', unlike the other large group of plants called Angiosperms, where the ovules are enclosed within a carpel. The exposed ovules of the Gymnosperms are accessible to the wind-borne pollen, which falls between the covering of scales.