36 THE GARDEN OF EARTH 



new ferns, but also new mosses, new fungi, new lichens, 

 to take the place of the old when the old die. Thus the 

 Earth is kept supplied with fresh generations of these 

 various growths. 



And now, as we still mount our ladder, we find a 

 marked change, and we come to a new Division. 



All the plants which we have so far noticed in our 

 upward progress belong to the vast Lower Division of 

 Flowerless Plants. But at last we have reached 

 the great Upper Division of Flowering Plants. 



At the very beginning of this Division we come 

 across the large Grass Family, sometimes called the Grass 

 Order. There are many such big Families or Orders 

 or Tribes ; and they include often such enormous num- 

 bers of distant cousins, that really they are more like 

 Scotch " Clans " than Families. 



Here we see the plan followed of a regular structure, 

 built up out of Roots, Stems, Leaves and Flowers. Not 

 always pretty flowers, or brightly coloured, but still 

 flowers of some description, producing seeds. 



All the Grasses belong to this Family; little low 

 ones and tall rank ones. The highest kinds in Britain 

 seldom rise above a man's waist; but in tropical 

 countries they are often over his head. Wheat and 

 Barley, Oats and Rye, Rice and Indian Corn and the 

 Sugar Cane, are included in the same clan. 



Presently we find ourselves in the midst of hordes 

 of Flowering Plants, such as grow in meadows and hedge- 

 rows, on hills and downs, in valleys and by rivers, in 

 gardens and parks ; wild flowers and cultivated flowers ; 

 plants that we all know, and plants which none of us 



