THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 9 



lliat c\ fii the highest plants hcgin as single-cells. In the main, 

 h(>\ve\er, the tide ct lite has llowed t>n to larger and more com- 

 plex fiirnis. Among the plants this tide might he said to be 

 heaped, here and there, into waves, or the situation might be 

 likened to a mountain range in which an occasional lofty sum- 

 mit rises above its fellows, with many lesser peaks about it 

 wiiich are themselves surrounded by foothills. One of these 

 summits might be labeled algae and fungi and imagined to con- 

 sist of some eighty thousand different forms, or species. A 

 near-by peak may be thought of as representing a group of 

 nearly twent\ thousand mosses and another, slightly smaller, 

 may stand for the ten thousand ferns. Then, towering over 

 all. the mightiest summit in the vegetable world comes that 

 peak representing the flowering plants, more than one hundred 

 and fifty thousand in number. 



All the groups mentioned have their devotees; indeed, 

 some small division of one group may provide interesting em- 

 l)loyment for a lifetime. b^a\orite groups for study are ferns, 

 the mushrooms, the algae, the grasses, the asters, the lichens 

 and the hawtlmrns. ( )ne American botanist is widely known 

 for his studies of the slime moulds, and another for his work 

 on the Laboulbeniaceae, a group of more: than 150 species of 

 fungi so small that they live on the bodies of beetles. Before 

 you can study siah plants you must catch your beetles and 

 buy a compound microscope! 



The flowering plants, because of their beauty, attract by 

 far the greatest number of students. Not all flowers are 

 beautiful, however, or e\ en consi)icuous, for that matter. 

 There are some so insignificant in size that they consist of 

 only a single stamen and carpel which cannot be seen withont 

 a high-power lens. From the plant's standijoint, however, 

 such an insignificant flower may signify perfection, for the sole 



