176 
Mr. Harold A. Caparn, consulting landscape architect of the 
Garden, and is worthy of special note because it not only secures 
pleasing landscape effects, not otherwise possible in the limited 
space at our disposal, but also because it gives added educational 
features by showing the botanical affinities of trees and shrubs 
with herbaceous plants, and the relative percentages of woody and 
herbaceous plants (within the limits of hardiness at Brooklyn) in 
the various families, orders, and larger subdivisions of the Plant 
Kingdom. Thus, for example, it will be seen that in the group 
of the Poppies and their relatives (Papaverales) there are no trees 
or shrubs hardy in Brooklyn; in the group of the Roses and their 
relatives (Rosales) there is a generous proportion of both woody 
and herbaceous plants; while in the Horsechestnut and Willow 
groups (Sapindales and Salicales) there are few if any herbaceous 
plants hardy here. 
CRYPTOGAMS 
At the beginning of the Systematic Section, nearest the Lake, 
are the Cryptogams, as yet (1929) represented chiefly by the 
erns. 
GYMNOSPERMS 
As noted above, Gymnosperms are so called because their seeds 
are not enclosed in a seed-case or ovary (as occurs, for example, 
with beans or apples). 
The Cycadales are represented by living specimens in House 
No. 11 of the Conservatories. 
The Ginkgoales comprise only one Family, Ginkgoaceae, repre- 
sented by only one living species, Ginkgo biloba, the geologically 
oldest existing arborescent type. It bears naked, plum-like seeds 
often mistaken for fruit. 
Until recently it was believed that Ginkgo was strictly a cultivated plant 
; ie “living fossil”), preserved by the fact that it was cultivated in the 
temple gardens of China and Japan, but botanical explorers have recently 
reported finding it growing wild in western China. In a preceding geological 
age (the Tertiary) it was widely distributed in Siberia, Europe, the British 
Isles, North America, ae Greenland, but is now known only from a com- 
paratively small area in western China. It is extensively planted, and is a 
very satisfactory tree for parks and streets. 
