THE PAST HISTORY OF PLANTS. 229 



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The VASCULAR PLANTS, again, which are 

 characterised 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 iheflowerless, 

 and the flowering. 



The flcnverless 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 present compose the main mass of the plant 

 aristocracy. 



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 belong 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 



