LETTER XXIII. 



CELLULAR, FLOWERLESS, OR CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS- 

 THE FERN TRIBE — THE CLUB-MOSS TRIBE. 



Plate XXIII. 



We have now arrived at the frontiers of the third 

 great province into which the Vegetable Kingdom 

 is divided ; we are about to visit races far less per- 

 fectly organized than those of the two other provinces; 

 and we shall no longer be delighted by beautiful form, 

 or astonished at stupendous size, or interested by the 

 many useful purposes to which the species are applied- 

 AVe here lose sight of all traces of flowers, and of the 

 singular parts that belong to them ; in their room we 

 find a different mode of propagation, and along with 

 it, a plan of organization which is always far more 

 simple than in flowering plants, and which gradually 

 diminishes in complexity, till at last the component 

 parts of the vegetable texture are separated, and 

 nothing remains but little bladders, which are hardly 

 to be distinguished from the simplest forms of 

 animals. 



Plants of this sort are called flowerless ; they 

 are also named Cryptogamic, because the parts by 

 which they are by some thought to be increased 

 are hidden from view; and they have, in addition, 



