26 THE LIFE OF THE PLANT 



whole trunks which belonged to them and the impres- 

 sions of their leaves and fruit. These remains enable 

 us to reproduce with the help of a certain amount 

 of imagination the aspect of the former vegetation of 

 our planet, the landscapes that no human eye ever 

 looked upon. The forests of that remote period 

 contained tree-like ferns which exist to-day only in 

 certain moist tropical countries and in hot-houses. 

 Our short, creeping club-moss existed then as a stately, 

 scaly tree, Lepidodendron, whereas our humble horse- 

 tail, which reaches the height of some dozen feet only in 

 a few places in South America, was represented by the 

 similar but tree-like Calamites, Equisetites, and others. 



I have just used an expression which needs explana- 

 tion, and which will naturally take us back to the main 

 thread of our argument. I have said that the club-moss 

 is related to ferns and horse-tails, and that all the existing 

 forms of these plants are related to fossils. Wherein 

 consists that relationship and wherein do these ferns, 

 horse-tails, and club-mosses differ from coniferous and 

 broad-leaved trees ? 



Some peculiarities in the life of ferns long ago 

 attracted the attention even of unscientific people. 

 There is a poetic fancy in Russia that ferns flower on 

 St. John's eve. This legend is based on the notice- 

 able fact that ferns never bloom, never have 

 flowers like other plants. The same is true of horse- 

 tails and club-mosses. All these plants are known 

 by the name of flowerless plants. But if they are 

 without flowers they must be also devoid of seeds, 

 which are usually formed from the ovules of flowers. 

 How do they then reproduce themselves ? If we look 

 at the under side of a fern-leaf, at the black cones 

 of the horse-tail and the yellow cones of club-moss, 

 we shall notice that towards maturity they all present 

 the following general characteristic : if you shake them 

 over a sheet of white paper you get some very fine 



