614 



Class III. CRYPTOGAMS. 



No real flowers, that is, neither stamens, nor pistils, nor 

 true seeds, the fructification consisting of minute, often highly 

 microscopic granules, called Spores, variously enclosed in sessile 

 or stalked capsules, or imbedded within the substance of the 

 plant, the capsules themselves sometimes so small as to be 

 scarcely visible without the aid of a microscope. 



The few British Cryptogams which are included in the present Voliime 

 have all of them roots, and stems or rootstocks, very similar in structm-e to 

 those of some Monocoii/ledons, and in some the leaves are also nearly the 

 same, but in others the leaves are more or less converted into fruit- 

 ing branches, bearing the fi-uctification on their surface or edges, and are 

 therefore now generally disCuiguished from true leaves by the name oi fronds. 

 In the remaining families of Cryptogams, called Cellular, there is either no 

 distmct stem, or the stem does not contain any fibres or vascular tissue. 

 None of these can be readily determined without the use of high magnifying 

 powers, and the assistance of carefully executed plates. However great, 

 therefore, may be the interest attached to them, they are beyond the scope 

 of the present Flora ; and the amatevu" of British Botany, desirous of enter- 

 iug into their study, is referred to the works of Hooker, Wilson, Harvey, 

 Berkeley, and other-s, devoted each to particular families. These Cellular 

 Cryptogams are comprised in the five following families : — 



Mosses. Stem and leaves distmct, but without vessels. Spores con- 

 tained in little globular or urn-shaped capsules, wliich are usually pedicellate, 

 and open by the falUng oiF of a Ud at the top. 



Hepatic^. Stem and leaves sometimes like those of Mosses, sometimes 

 reduced to flat, leaf-like expansions. Spores contained in little capsules, 

 either stalked, as in the Mosses, but opening in valves, or immersed in the 

 substance of the frond. 



Lichens. Plants consisting of a variously-shaped flat, or shortly erect 

 expansion called the thallus, not usually green, but turning greenish if 

 rubbed, sometimes so thin as not to be distinguished but by colour from 

 the stones or bark they grow on. Fructification in Uttle shield-hke or wart- 

 like bodies on the surface of the thaUus. 



Ftjngi. Plants of infinite variety of shape and colour, but not green 

 even when rubbed, usually growing on decaying organized substances, often 

 themselves microscopic, and their fructification always so. They include 

 Mushrooms, Moulds, Mildeios, Dryrot, Vinegar Flants, etc. 



Alg^. Aquatic plants, entirely submerged, variously coloured ; the fructi- 

 fication usually imbedded in the substance of the frond, and almost always 

 microscopic. They include the Seaweeds, the fresh-water Confervas, and 

 according to some authors the Ckaras also, which in the short, whorled 

 branches of their fronds show some approach to the Hquisetum family, 

 but they float like the Algce, and have axillary fructifications. 



