290 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



devote all their energies to the production of 

 staminal leaves and pollen. But all other native 

 evergreens produce both sorts of flower on the 

 same tree, and they may frequently be seen on 

 the self-same branch. 



The ovule of a flower akin to the lily or the 

 rose generally wears two coats. But the ovule of 

 a cone-bearer has but a single coat, and at one 

 point it presents a naked surface to the pollen. 



Because their ovules are not enclosed in pistils 

 the cone-bearers and their kin are known to sys- 

 tematic botany as " gymnosperms " (naked seeds). 

 They are a last link in the chain which connects 

 the flower-less and the flowering plants. 



Naturalists assign the highest rank among flower- 

 less plants to the club-mosses, and the selaginellas 

 their nearest of kin. 



Two sorts of selaginella are cultivated under the 

 name of " lycopodium," and may be seen draping 

 the stages in greenhouses, or making a moss-like 

 mat all over the floor in florists' windows. These 

 plants bear spores of two sorts and sizes, which 

 ripen at about the same time, and fall to the 

 ground together (Fig. 82). Then the substance 

 contained in each of the smaller spores develops 

 into a tiny "male" prothallus, consisting of one 



