WAYSIDE WEBDS. 209 



tails, tte club mosses, have been known to us only 

 as "flowerless plants;" but iti^ riglit we should 

 know them also under their more scientific name of 

 "Cryptogamia" of the artificial classification of 

 Linnaeus, or of " Acotyledons " of the natural classi- 

 ficaftion, which has been followed in the foregoing 

 sketches. The name Oryptogamia, literally, "hidden 

 marriage," was given by Linnaeus in accordance with 

 his ingeniousi and, we might say, beautiful theory 

 respecting plant-nature ; the term Acotyledon is 

 apphcable because of the absence of the cotyle- 

 donary bodies, which, either singly, or in pairs, 

 characterize the flowering plants. Either name 

 indicates a m^arked distinction between the repro- 

 ductive organs, and apparent mode of propagation 

 of the flowerless, and the flowering plants. There 

 is, however, yet another distinction, not so apparent 

 to the eye, but yet well marked, in the inner struc- 

 ture of these plants, and this too gives to the 

 flowerless plants generally the name of Cellulares, 

 and to the flowering plants that of Vasculares ; for, 

 although the higher ranges in the flowerless division, 

 such as the ferns, etc., contain their own peculiar and 

 characteristic vessels, the lower ranges, from the 

 mosses and fungi downwards, are little more than 

 masses of cells. To enter further into these divisions 

 would be beyond the scope and design of our work. 

 We retrace our steps still further along the 

 paths of flower-land, and again we come to two 



p 



