210 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. 



The VASCULAR PLANTS, again, which are char- 

 acterised by the possession of special vessels for 

 the conveyance of sap and organised material, 

 and by the presence of more or less woody fibres, 

 are divisible into two main groups the flower- 

 less , and the flowering. 



The flowerless group of Vascular Plants are 

 mainly represented by the ferns and horsetails. 

 These were at one time the leading vegetation of 

 the entire world, far outnumbering in kinds all 

 the rest put together. But they have now been 

 lived down by the flowering plants, which at pres- 

 ent compose the main mass of the plant aristoc- 

 racy. 



The flowering plants, once more, fall into two 

 main groups ; the small but widespread group of 

 naked-seeded plants, including the cycads, pines, 

 firs, cypresses, and yews; and the very large 

 group of fruit-bearing plants, including almost all 

 the kinds of herb, shrub, bush, or tree familiarly 

 known to you, as well as almost all those various 

 plants with which we have busied ourselves in this 

 little volume. You will thus see that the vast 

 majority of species in the vegetable kingdom be- 

 long to small and relatively inconspicuous orders. 

 Indeed, for the most part, we habitually disregard 

 the cellular plants, thinking only of the vascular ; 

 while among the vascular themselves, again, we 

 disregard the flowerless, thinking only of the 

 flowering; and among the flowering kinds, we 

 concentrate our attention as a rule on the fruit- 

 producing group (in the botanical sense of the 

 word) and neglect the naked-seeded. In short, 

 we usually confine our attention to the highest 

 division of the highest group of the highest half 

 of the vegetable kingdom. The rest are for 



