FLOWERING PLANTS. 3 



But let us mark the stems of the trees or bushes 

 which are near. There is one that looks quite grey, 

 and indeed on one side it is almost covered with a 

 short, dry, greyish-coloured substance. 



We will gather a small piece of it. It is a lichen. It 

 is another instance of a plant that has no true flowers. 



If we were on the seashore, we should find another 

 instance in the seaweed. 



Perhaps, if it is autumn, we shall see a mushroom, QY 

 a puff-ball, as we go through the fields ; or we may 

 see a heap of toad-stools by the road-side ; or a bright 

 red, or white, or yellow substance upon some piece of 

 wood which lies about. Any one of these would be a 

 fungus another kind of plant which has no true flowers. 



You may also succeed in finding another example 

 in a fern ; but though they are so common in some 

 places, in others you may go far and not find one. 



But our talk about Botany has been long enough 

 for you to know what it is to be a Botanist. There is 

 enough, and more than enough, in " learning about 

 plants " to give you pleasure all your life long. 



To be a Botanist is to be like a traveller, going 

 from country to country, and in each finding new 

 wonders and new beauties. 



The mosses, then, the lichens, the seaweeds, the 

 fungi, and the ferns, we call flowerless plants ; for they 

 have no flowers such as those you know so well. 



I shall say no more to you about them for some 

 time. You will learn first about \\\z flowering plants ; 

 the flowerless plants will remain until you are older. 



