Lessons from Fossil Plants 



casts and impressions. All three are termed fossil 

 plants. 



From a study of these fossils the botanist is able to 

 reconstruct in imagination the plants which grew during 

 the age when ferns and their allies predominated. He 

 sees also resemblances in structure between those old- 

 time plants and certain forms which exist to-day. 

 These points of resemblance very marked in some 

 cases lead him to the conclusion that our present-day 

 British ferns, clubmosses, and horsetails must be the 

 descendants of the ancient plants we have mentioned in 

 this chapter. Knowing, too, the conditions which are 

 necessary for the luxuriant growth of such plants, he is 

 able to picture for us what the earth was like in a very 

 remote past. 



CHAPTER II 



FERNS I HABITATS, LIFE-STORY, AND MORPHOLOGY 



IN the last chapter we learned that the conditions most 

 favourable for the luxuriant growth of ferns were those 

 of heat, moisture, and shade. 



For this reason our native ferns are to be found in 

 greatest abundance in woodlands, where also they attain 

 their greatest height. Here in summer their delicate 

 fronds are shaded from the direct rays of the sun by the 

 foliage of the trees, while in winter their vital parts are 

 protected from the frosts by a thick covering of fallen 

 leaves. The air, too, around woods and forests contains 

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