GENERAL MORPHOLOGY. 67 



axis, commonly bearing leaves. Such are therefore termed 

 Connophytes or stem- producing plants, to distinguish them from 

 the thallus -forming plants or Thallophi/tes, just alluded to. 



All the plants previously noticed including the Mosses, are 

 chiefly composed of parenchymatous cells, without any trace of 

 Avood-cells or vessels except in a few instances. These therefore, 

 are frequently known as Cellular Plants, in order to distinguish 

 them from all others which are placed above them, which from 

 being generally furnished with both wood-cells and vessels, 

 as Avell as parenchymatous cells, are called Vascular Plants. 



The lowest orders of Vascular Plants, like the true Mosses, are 

 comparatively insignificant in ai)pearance, such as the Club- 

 mosses (fg. 156); the Horse-tails (Jig. 157); and even generally 

 the Ferns so far as they are natives of cold and temperate 

 regions (Jig. 158), but in the tropics and warmer parts of the 

 globe the latter plants frequently grow to a considerable height, 

 and form handsome trees (Jig. 159). Tliese plants, however, 

 like the Mosses and the Thallophytes, are all reproduced by 

 Spores, and never produce evident flowers like the higher 

 kinds of plants, hence, such were denominated by Linnaeus 

 Flowerless or Cryptogamous Plants, that is to say, plants Avith 

 concealed or invisible reproductive organs. They Avere so 

 called to distinguish them from all the orders of plants Avhich 

 are placed above them, and AAhich from possessing evident re- 

 productive organs are termed Phanerogamous, Phctnogamous, or 

 Flowering Plants. The latter plants are propagated by true seeds 

 instead of spores ; a seed being essentially distinguished ft-om 

 a spore, from containing Avithin itself in a rudimentary condition 

 all the essential parts of the futui-e plant in the form of an 

 embryo (Jig. 160); Av^hile a spore merely consists of a single 

 cell, or of scA'eral united, and ^- ^g^ 



ncA^er exhibits any distinction of 

 parts until it begins to develope 

 in the ordinary process of vege- 

 tation, and then only in cer- 

 tain cases. The Phaneroga- 

 mous plants are those therefore 

 in Avhich Ave haA'e the highest and 

 most perfect condition of A'egeta- 

 tion, and to these our atten- 

 tion Avill be more particularly ^iO- 160. I icotyledonous embryo of 

 T i 1 • ^1 <• 11 • the pea. r. T)ie radicle, f. The 



dn-ected m the tollOAVmg pages. axis, terminated by the plumule 

 Before proceeding hoAVCA-er, to «; cc. the cotyledons or seed-lobes. 



describe in detail the diflerent parts or organs Avhich they pre- 

 sent, it Avill be more convenient and intelligible to take a brief 

 revicAv of those organs. 



We haA^e already stated that a seed contains an embryo, in 

 AA'hich the fundamental organs of the future plant are present 

 r 2 



