The Relation of Fungi to Other Plants 



Pistil of 

 violet 



learn with the microscope that the pond scums which he had 

 thought disgusting frog-spittle are in truth tangles of exquisite 

 plants, made up of chains of slender, transpar- 

 ent cells finer than silken threads, each cell 

 containing many tiny green par- 

 ticles of leaf green, or chloro- 

 phyll — the cause of the green 

 colour of all green plants. 



At first the most conspicu- 

 ous plants attract the attention, 

 and afterwards, in succession, 

 those less and less conspicuous. 

 They, in reality, present them- 

 selves in great natural groups, readily distinguished 

 by well-marked characteristics. 



It will be seen, as these 

 pass in review, that they are 



conspicuous according as 

 they are complex. The gorgeous flow- 

 ering plants have complicated methods 

 of reproduction 

 — corollas and 

 honey, attrac- 

 tive to insects : 



Pistil of 

 St. Johns- 

 wort 



Seed-box of 

 iris 



Seed-box of sacred bean 



ingenious 



sta- 



mens, pistils, seed-boxes, and seeds. 



The humble grasses, with their close 

 relatives, dispense with 

 gay colours and the as- 

 sistance of insects, and 

 trust to the breezes to carry 

 their pollen to its goal. 

 The pines and their allies 

 are a step nearer simplic- 

 ity, and do not enclose 



Winged seed their seeds in a seed-box 

 °^ ^^^ ''^- at all, but provide them 



ver fir 



With Wings for dissemi- 

 nation, and leave them exposed to the Yem with spores {Pofypo. 



wind. dium vttlgare) 



6 



