THE PAST HISTORY OF PLANTS. 211 



us mere inconspicuous mosses, moulds, or sea- 

 weeds. 



The fruit-producing group of flowering plants 

 are finally divided into the dicotyledons and the 

 monocotyledons, whose chief differences I have al- 

 ready pointed out to you. And to complete our 

 picture of this infinite hierarchy, the dicotyledons, 

 once more, are divided into various families, such 

 as the buttercups, the roses, the crucifers, the 

 composites, the labiates, the umbellates, the saxi- 

 frages, and the catkin-bearers. The buttercup 

 family, in particular (to select a single group), is 

 further divisible into genera, such as buttercup, 

 marsh-marigold, larkspur, anemone, clematis, and 

 aconite; while the buttercup genus (to take one 

 only among these) comprises in turn a vast num- 

 ber of species, such as the water-crowfoot, the 

 ivy-leaved crowfoot, the meadow buttercup, the 

 bulbous buttercup, the lesser celandine, the goldi- 

 locks, and so on for pages. Similarly, the mono- 

 cotyledons are divided into various families, such 

 as the orchids, lilies, grasses, and sedges : the 

 families are divided into many genera; and each 

 genus into several species. The infinite variety 

 of circumstances is such that each type goes on 

 varying and varying for ever in order to fit itself 

 for the endless situations it is called upon to fill, 

 and the endless diversity in the accidents of cli- 

 mate or soil or position that it may chance to 

 come across. Thus we have in England more 

 than a hundred different kinds of grasses, each 

 specially adapted for some one particular situa- 

 tion. 



Only the closest individual study can give any 

 adequate idea of this immense diversity of plants 

 in nature. 



