;3o: 



Class II. CELLULARES, or FLOWERLESS 

 PLANTS. 



ACOTYLEDONES, JuSS. Goi. 1. (1789) ExEMBRYONAT^E or ARHIZiE, Rich. Anal, dn 



^^(1808) CELLULARES, Dec.Fl.Fr. 1.08.(1815); Lindl. Si/nops. i>. 3.(1829). 



. — AcoTYLEDONE.E ujid PsEUDOcoT YLEDONE.E, Agurdh Aph. 72. (1821).^ — 

 Agam^jCryptogamousoj-tEtheogajious PLxyiTS of authors; Ad.Brongniart 

 in Diet. Class. 5. 155. (1824) Nemea, Fries. Syst. Orb. Veg. 1. 30. (1825.) 



• Essential Character Substance of the plant composed of cellular tissue chiefly, 



either in a spheroidal or elongated state ; spiral vessels wholly absent ; annular ducts pre- 

 sent in some. Cuticle generally destitute of stomata. Sexual organs, and consequently 

 flowers., absent. Reproduction taking place either by sporules, wliich are enclosed in par- 

 ticular cases called thecce., or imbedded in the substance of the plant, or else by a mere dis- 

 solution of the utricles of cellular tissue ; germination occurring at no fixed point, but upon 

 any part of the surface of the sporules. 



Such are the characters by which this class of the vegetable kingdom is 

 distinguished from the last ; characters of so marked a kind as to render it im- 

 possible to refer individuals of one to the other. The universal want of flowers, 

 and of all kinds of sexual apparatus; the total absence of spiral vessels, the 

 place of which is only occasionally supplied by annular ducts ; and the non- 

 existence of a true trunk (for the stipes of Ferns, composed only of the united 

 bases of the leaves or fronds, is scarcely analogous to the trunk of Vascular 

 plants) ; and, finally, the near approach in the most simple tribes, such as Arthro- 

 diege and Chaodineae, to the nature of infusorial animalcules, are all facts, 

 the accuracy of which is undisputed, and which have no parallel in flowering 

 plants. It is true that sexual apparatus has been described by various 

 authors in many of the tribes of Cellulares ; but it is equally certain, that if 

 .such a provision for propagation ever exists, which is extremely doubtful, it 

 is in a most imperfect state, and by no means analogous to what we call the 

 sexes in Vasculares ; and it is even conjectured that the simplest forms of 

 Lichens, Fungi, and Algas, are produced by a kind of equivocal generation, 

 from a cornmon form of matter having no inherent special tendency to 

 control its mode of developement, but appearing as a Lichen, Alga, or Fun- 

 gus, according to the peculiar conditions of soil and atmosphere under which 

 it is called into action. Upon this subject more will be said, in speaking of 

 those orders hereafter. 



Flowerless may be said to approach Flowering plants by Ferns, which 

 have a certain relation to Cycadese, by Lycopodinese, which may be com- 

 pared in many respects to Coniferse, and by Equisetacese, which have a great 

 external resemblance to Casuarina. 



The subject of Cryptogamic botany is not less obscure than extensive; 

 it is usually, among botanists, an object of separate attention, especially in 

 the lower tribes ; and I think I shall best consult the interest of readers of 

 this work, by stating the opinions of those who have given the greatest atten- 

 tion to particular tribes, rather than by offering any thing novel myself. I 

 trust, however, I may, without incurring the charge of presumption from 

 those great cryptogamists whose lives have been devoted to the study of the 

 subject, ofTer here and there a few remarks upon the analogy that exists 



