208 WAYSIDE WEEDS. 



dandelion connections, are each made up of certain 

 numbers of individual members or " species/' wbich 

 are intimately related to each other. Bearing 

 these factSj and others of the same kind, in remem- 

 brance, we look back over the ground we have 

 traversed, and first we see the two great divisions 



into 



Plajits with Mowers,* and 



Plants without Flowers, 



The latter of these divisions it is true has re- 

 ceived but scant share of our attention, but it must 

 not on that account be deemed unimportant : from 

 the magnificently elegant tree ferns of southern 

 climes, to the mould which covers the damp sur- 

 faces of decay, or the crimson tesicles which stain 

 the snows of the arctic regions, the flowerless tribes 

 include a vast collection of vegetable entities each 

 and all fulfilling their purposes in God's creation, 

 and not one of them devoid of interest, or unen- 

 dowed with its own peculiar beauty; but yet, with 

 exception of the ferns and a feW of their nearest 

 connections, the study of the flowerless tribes is 

 neither very attractive, nor perhaps likely to be 

 well understood by a novitiate learner in botan- 

 ical science. 



In accordance with our simple plan, the flower- 

 less plants we have noticed, the ferns, the horse 



* Our readers it is hoped have not forgotten the definition of 

 what a true flower ia eaaentially. 



