BOTANY FOR BEGINNERS— VI 



By Willard N. CivUTE 



T 'P is probably a fortunate tbinj^, considering man's ideas 

 of beauty, tliat Nature (bd not make all plant*^ alike. No 

 doubt a world niiglit ba\e been created witb notbing on it but 

 grass, or ferns, or [)ines from pole to i)ole, but we bave been 

 spared sucb monotony. On our better ordered i)lanet. tbere 

 are not far from one bundred and twentN-fue tbousand flow- 

 ering i)lants. to sav notbing of nearly as many musbrooms, 

 ferns, puffballs, mosses, seaweeds, and similar plants tbat nev- 

 er produce eitber flowers or seeds. To be sure tbe existence 

 of sucb names as rose moss, flowering fern, asi)aragus fern 

 and sea lettuce seem to indicate tbat tbese latter plants may 

 Bower on occasion, but in every case tiie names are foimded 

 on a misapprebension. 



If we ask ourselves wby tbere sbould be nearly two bun- 

 dred and bft\- tiiousand kinds of plants in tbe world, tbe most 

 satisfying answer is, tbat since tbere are mountains and des- 

 erts and i)lains, swam[)s and bogs and jxinds, lowlands and el- 

 evated regions, temperate, torrid, and frigid zones, and manv 

 combinations of tbe.se. vegetation bas bad to adopt a great 

 variety of forms in order to fit into tbe different situations pre- 

 sented. 



Tbere are, of course, a large number of people wbo still 

 bold to tbe opini<.n tbat plants bave existed in tbe forms tbev 

 now exbibit. since tbe very beginning, but it seems more 

 reasonable to suppose tbat during tbe millions of vears tbat 



