8 INTRODUCTION. 



Pteridophytes have vessels of various sorts, and are therefore 

 known also as Vascular Cryptogams. Cryptogam, by the way, 

 is the general name applied to all the flowerless plants, and 

 means a hidden marriage, the term being suggested by the 

 comparative obscurity of the fertilizing process indeed, at the 

 time Linnaeus invented and applied the term, the process was 

 much more than obscure ; in only a few cases was its existence 

 known. 



The ferns are chiefly perennial herbs ; one only on the 

 British list is an annual, and that (Gymnogramme leptophylla) 

 is only politically British, as in these islands it is restricted to 

 Jersey. A few species have shrubby stems or roots, and the 

 Tree-ferns are well known to have woody trunks. So far as 

 the British ferns are concerned they may all be described 

 as herbs. 



Ferns vary greatly in their habitats, but broadly they may 

 be said to be plants of the rocky hillside and the moist wood- 

 land. Each species, however, has its own special liking, and it 

 will be useless to search for it in a district where the favoured 

 conditions do not exist. Thus the Aspleniums (with the excep- 

 tion of the Lady Fern) may all be regarded as affecting rocks 

 and the crevices of stone walls ; the Adder's-tongue and Moon- 

 wort must be sought in pastures and on grassy banks ; the 

 Royal Fern and Marsh Buckler-fern in bogs and swampy 

 woods ; the other Buckler-ferns in woods and hedgerows ; and 

 so forth. It must be admitted with sorrow that ferns are far 

 less plentiful in our land to-day than they were in the memory 

 of many still living. The senseless cupidity that impels people 

 to possess themselves of anything they know to be rare without 

 considering whether they can make any use of it, has led to the 

 needless destruction of a number of species. In the vicinity of 



