134 THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS 



must to a great extent have presented the aspect 

 of that in the Tropical Fernhouse of a Botanical 

 Garden, so dominant were forms like those of the 

 Ferns and Fern-allies. 



One class of plants, however, would have 

 stood out from all the rest, anticipating the 

 Flora of a later age. The tall Cordaitean trees 

 had already long cast aside all traces of the 

 Cryptogamic habit and revealed themselves in 

 every character as advanced and typical Seed- 

 plants. 



Among the rest of the vegetation, plants 

 with the appearance of Ferns were the most 

 numerous hi species, and formed, probably, 

 the vigorous undergrowth of the forest, some- 

 times themselves reaching the stature of trees. 

 The majority of the "Ferns," though there was 

 little in their outward aspect to betray their 

 real nature, would have proved to bear on their 

 fronds, not the spore-sacs of a Fern, but true seeds, 

 as perfect as those of the Cordaiteae themselves. 



Of these two great Palaeozoic seed-bearing races, 

 the advanced Cordaiteae, it appears, were the 

 forerunners, if not the direct ancestors of the 

 Coniferae; the fern-like Pteridosperms had an 

 even greater future before them, for they were 

 destined first to give rise to the world-wide Cyca- 

 dophyte Flora of the Mesozoic ages, and then, in 

 still later times, to become the ancestors of the 



