HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM, 667 
BOWMAN: 
HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
REV. L. J. TEMPLIN, HUTCHINSON, KANSAS. 
[ Concluded. | 
We now approach the period in the world’s history that was par excellence the 
age of plants, viz: the Carboniferous Age; the flora of which has been anticipat- 
ed in the Devonian Age. In this last we also find anticipation of coal beds in 
the dark bands colored by carbonaceous matter, which are found between the 
strata of this age. The vegetation of the Carboniferous Age surpassed in Juxuri- 
ance and grandeur all that had preceded it; and at least, in the abundance of in- 
dividual plants it has never since been approached. The land was composed 
principally of low, marshy islands that were subject to elevation and depression 
at long and irregular intervals. They were consequently sometimes above the 
water, and at others the sea would come overand cover them. Theclimate was 
tropical in its character, and the atmosphere heavily charged with carbonic acid; on 
account of the absence of elevated land to cause precipitation it was constantly 
filled, almost, if not quite, to saturation with moisture. All these furnished con- 
ditions favorable for the production of a vegetation, so luxuriant in its abundance 
and so gigantic in its proportions, that it is doubtful whether the most favored 
localities in tropical countries of the present day can furnish a parallel. 
The most important plants of this age of Acro-ens may be considered as be- 
longing to five different families. Beginning with the lowest and simplest, the 
families are Calamites, Sigillarids, Lepidodendrids, Ferns and Conifers. The 
first three of these are generally classed as Lycopods and Equisete; but there 
are good reasons for considering them as distinct families. Calamites were plants 
with long, slender, reed-like stems either hollow or containing a pith. These 
stems were composed of woody structure, and with vascular tissue resembling 
exogenous gymnosperms. ‘The leaves, which were narrow and pointed, were ar- 
ranged in whorls around the nodes of the stem. The internodes were fluted or 
striated, the strize extending only between the nodes. It is probable the equisetz 
belonged here. During the coal age these grew to tree-like proportions, though 
at the present day they are represented in this country only by the scouring rush- 
es that seldom rise above three feet in height. 
Among the most singular and interesting plants of this age, were the Sigil- 
larids. The Sigillaria are found as fossils in flattened trunks, roots and leaves. 
The trunks of these trees are fluted vertically like the Grecian Doric style of ar- 
chitecture. Each of these flutes has a line of sculpture running down its center 
varying in shape with the different species, and giving the trees a very ornate ap- 
pearance. These sculpture-like markings are the scars left by the leaves, being 
the places where the leaves had been attached to the stem. 
