Classification of Plants 



173 



the one at the left. The one at the right shows that this ring 

 was a remainder of a veil formed of threads, which grew up to 

 protect the young gills. The 

 stem of this one stands in 

 a cup which, like the ring, 

 is the remains of a pro- 

 tecting veil. But this one 

 extended over the cap. 

 When the cap pushed 

 through, parts of the veil 

 made the rough patches on 

 the cap. Don't eat this 

 kind. The rough cap tells 

 of the cup below, and a 

 mushroom is quite apt to 

 be poisonous if it has a 

 cup at the base. 



Puff balls are a kind of mushroom. When you pinch them 

 the spores come out in a cloud. The earth star is a pretty 

 little puff ball, which looks like a star, and grows close on the 

 earth in the spring. 



Fig. 178. — Geaster (earth-star). 



PH/ENOGAMS, OR SEED-BEARING PLANTS. 



Gymnosperms. 



Gymnosperms are woody plants storing resin or mucilage. 

 The flowers are diclinous (male and female separate), and the 

 plants are either monoecious or dioecious.^ 



This group of plants is named from the fact that the seeds 

 are not covered by an ovary, but lie on a flat scale or carpel. 



Three orders of Gymnosperms are found in South Africa — 

 Cycadacese, Coniferae, and Gnetacese. These orders 

 include five genera. 



Cycadace^. — The two South African genera of this order 

 are often mistaken for tree ferns or palms, until the large cones 



On the same plant or on different plants. 



