

CLASS VI. GYMNOGENS. 



• . Inal. du fr. En i ed. I -l.i I't u 

 / . 88, i-j- -Oymi r e, '■ nfcirum. 21 



The plants comprehended in this class have nearly an equal r. ! 

 flowering and flowerless plants. With tho former thej 

 the presence of Bezes, and in their vascular tissue being 

 Perns and Clubmosses, among the latter, t, in 



the peculiar gyrate vernation of the of Bom 



b being imperfectly formed, and in the 

 than in other flowering plants : the females wanting a pericarpii 1 i 

 and receiving fertilisation directly through the foramen oftb 

 the intervention of Btyle or stigma, and the m 

 leaves imperfectly contracted into an anther bearing a numl i 

 eases upon their surface. So great is the resemblance b > lub- 



mosses and certain Conifers, that 1 know of no obvious 

 except size, li\ which they can be distinguished. Gymm 

 from most other Vasculares by the \ i t their wood having lar 



rent perforations or disks. It is not, however, on this account to 1 

 stood that they differ in growth from other I igens ; on tl 

 are essentially the Bame, deviating in no respect from the plan up 

 Exogenous plants increase, but having a kind of tissue peculiar t 



At this point of the vegetable kingdom there is a plair transition I 

 highest form of organization to the lowest. Gynin< 

 Bxogens in all that appertains to their organs of tion ; thej ; 



centric zones in their n 1, a vascular system in which spiral w«m-1s arc 



found, and o central pith : but they are analogous to reptili - in t • 



kingdom, inasmuch as their ova arc fertilized by dir 



male principle. The two most remarkable of the Ord ■ »ni 



Cycads. Of these, the former is connected with 



Acrogens by means of the extinct genus Lepidodendn 



vol. 2. t. 98), and their branches are sometimes bo bud ' 



Lycopods themseta i leave no doubt of their 



for instance; Lycopodium Phlegmaria, and Cunningh 



Cycads have the gyrate vernation of tho leai 



with the inflorescence of Coniti rs ; and their mode 



although essentially the same as that of E 



of Acrogens in lengthening by a terminal hud i nly. ^ 



class of Gymnogens is thus distinctly marked I 



logical peculiarities, it approaches the 



portion of it which hears the name of Joint Grs pi 



of their class, but with the manner of growth of I lil< i 



which will be found in a future part of thi 



