24 



SpoFophytes or Gryptogams, 



nvcj^ToriaiEAAT- b. slj^tek,, if.l.s. 



sVvpTpHE Linnaean classification of the flowering plants was no 

 ■j^ doubt the best artificial arrangement ever produced. 

 Linnaeus adopted for his system the variations in the 

 numbers and position of the stamens and pistils. These, being 

 the reproductive organs of the plants, are most essential for 

 their continued existence. By this method Linnaeus arranged 

 all the flowering plants then known to him into twenty-three 

 classes. The twenty-fourth class he named Cryptogamia, in 

 which he included all other vegetable organisms. 



Since the time of Linnaeus, by the aid of better optical in- 

 struments, the knowledge of the structure of plants, and more 

 especially of the minute forms of vegetation, has been greatly 

 advanced, and the natural arrangement of plants, based upon 

 their structure and general physiographical characters, is now 

 universally adopted. 



Cryptogamic plants far exceed in number the flowering or 

 Phanerogamic plants in the British Islands. By the modern 

 method of research, these numerous forms of vegetable life have 

 been divided into three main groups : — 



ist Group, Thallophyta. 

 2nd do. Bryophyta. 

 3rd do. Pteridophyta. 



Group I. — The Thallophyta includes the Algis, Lichens (or 

 Lichen-Fungi), and Fungi. The vegetable body in these plants 

 is a Thallus, or simple growth of cellular structure, without any 

 differentiation into stem, leaf, and root, or if at all, in a very 

 rudimentary condition. 



