182 FLOWERLESS PLANTS 



DIVISION II. 

 FLOWERLESS PLANTS (Cryptogamae). 



These are plants without flowers. They multiply hj spores, seed- 

 like cells, that contain no separate germ like the seeds of the flowering 

 plants. 



The chief classes of this division are: the Ferns, plants with distinct 

 stems and leaves and with vascular bundles; the Mosses, also with 

 distinct stems and leaves, but without vascular bundles; the Fungi, 

 without distinct stems and leaves. 



41. Ferns (Filices). 



Most of the Ferns live on shady and moist ground. One of 

 the commonest on the West Coast of India is the creeping Maiden- 

 hair Fern (Adiantnm ccmdatum ; Kan. Celukondi, Anekivi), 

 which we can find on every wall and rock during the monsoon. 



1. Stem- — -The stem of this Maidenhair Fern is a small, creep- 

 ing root-stock, just on the surface of the soil with a bundle of 

 small, fibrous roots. In the rainless season the plant withers 

 down to its tiny stem in which its life is perpetuated. 



2. Its Leaves or fronds, as they are called in ferns, are 

 exceedingly thin and tender. The plants do not require a thick 

 epidermis on their leaves to lessen the glare of the light or to 

 reduce the action of evaporation; for they grow during the 

 monsoon, when the sun is mostly screened behind clouds and 

 there is always sufficient moisture for their growth, both in the 

 soil and in the air. 



The tenderness of the leaves, however, involves the danger 

 of their being torn by tlio wind. This is somewhat avoided by 

 the division of the leaves into a number of small segments: the 

 leaves are pinnate, and the leatlets become smaller as they get 

 farther away from the base of tlie petiole. 



