PRIMITIVE DIVISION OF PLANTS. 



17 



plants of the foregoing Orders — ^namely, Fungi, Algae, 

 Lichenes, Hepatic* and Musci — are, with a few very 

 trifling exceptions, composed entirely of cellular tissue. 

 They produce no fibre, and form no wood. 



101. First Development of Fibre. — If a plant 

 is designed to rise beyond the very humblest height, the 

 system must be braced and strengthened by woody fibre ; 

 and in our upward journey we first find this in the Club- 

 Mosses, a tribe of plants immediately below the Ferns 

 (Filices). These plants have a clearly defined leaf and 

 stem. The leaves, however, are very short and scale- 

 like, closely overlapping each other, like those of some 

 pines, whence they are not unfrequently called Ground 

 Pines. They are ever-green, and from their being used 

 to decorate our houses and churches during the Christ- 

 mas holidays, they always seem to have a festive air. 



102. But in the proper Ferns the nutritive organs 

 are more highly elaborated, and the distinction of leaf 

 and stem becomes more strongly and clearly defined. 

 But they by no means have a corresponding development 

 in the reproductive system. This is even more simple 

 than we find in the Mosses. At fig. 14 is a segment of 

 ihe fruit-bearing frond in a common Fern, with the fruit- 

 dots on the under side, which is exposed to view. The 

 sporangia of this interesting family, when at a certain 

 stage, exhibit, under the microscope, very curious move- 

 ments, when they appear bursting elastically in all direc- 

 tions, and with very rapid motions. At fig. 15 is a barren 

 frond of the same Fern, and at fig. 18 a fertile segment 

 from another species. The fruit of Ferns is generally 

 borne on the back of the leaf. Sometimes, however, the 

 sporangia occupy transformed or smaller leaflets, situated 

 on an intermediate part of the stem, while at others they 

 have a stalk expressly devoted to their support, as in 

 the flower and fruit of the higher orders. But even the 

 tall trees into which the Ferns of the tropics often rise, 

 are produced from spores so minute that they cannot be 

 seen with the naked eye. Fig. 1, Plate IV., represents a 

 Tree Fern of the East Indies, which, with its tall, ta- 

 pering spire, and its cluster of fronds at the summit, 

 appears the very symbol of grace and beauty. 



What orders are cellular plants? In what is the first development of fibre ? 

 What are they sometimes called ? Order of the Fern tribe. Fruit of Ferns. 

 Where generally borne ? 



General subject. What ot-ders are called Flowerless Plants ? What other 



CHAPTER IX. 



PRIMITIVE DIVISION OF PLANTS. 



103. YoD have seen by the late review of the lower 

 tribes of plants, and probably also from your own obser- 

 vation, that in the seven families we have been consider- 

 ing — namely, Mushrooms, Seaweeds, Lichens, Liver- 

 worts, Mosses, Club-Mosses and Ferns — no proper flowers 

 are produced. For this reason they are called Flowbk- 

 LESS Plants, and also Cryptogamia {a concealed mar- 

 riage), because the reproductive organs are not obvious, 

 as in the higher orders, but comparatively obscure ; and 

 for reverse reasons, the higher tribes are called Ph.eno- 

 gamia, or Flowering Plants. The Cryptogamia are 

 represented by all the figures in Plate III., and the Tree- 

 Fern and Mushroom, figs. 1 and 5, Plate IV. ; and the 

 Phsenogamia, not only by the Oak and Palm, figs. 1 1 

 and 12, but also by several other more humble but not 

 less perfect vegetable forms. The beautiful little Pyrola, 

 fig. 6, with its perfectly defined root, stem, leaves 

 and flowers, may well be called a typical plant ; a fine 

 fruiting branch of the Bitter Sweet, fig. 2 ; a Grass, fig. 

 3 ; and a Sedge, fig. 4, with all the vegetative organs, as 

 well as proper fruits and flowers — all express the ulti- 

 mate perfection of Use and Beauty, as developed in the 

 vegetable system. The fruit of the Currant, the Apple 

 and the Strawberry (the two latter exhibiting that most 

 important feature of the higher plants — the seed), show 

 the character of the Phsenogamia, and are very properly 

 brought in here as illustrations. 



104. Chief Distinctions. — Between these two great 

 classes there are some very marked and important differ- 

 ences. The principal of these are, their Component 

 Tissues, their mode of Vegetation, and their mode of 

 Eeproduction. 



105. FiRST~ Distinction. — The lower plants, or all 

 those below the Club-Mosses, produce no wood or fibre, 

 with the exception of a few spiral ducts in Liverworts, 

 and some other trifling instances of a fibrous determin- 

 ation. Even in the large Seaweeds, whose fronds often 

 vie with the most umbrageous Palm-leaves, there is, 

 indeed, a strong framework ; but its strength is derived 

 from earthy material, and not from fibre. They are 

 elaborations of stone, rather than of wood. 



106. Second Distinction. — In the Cryptogamia 

 are only rudiments of the vegetative system. In the 

 lowest tribes, the vegetative organs are confusedly 



name have .they? Meaning of Cryptogamia. What are the higher plants 

 called? Chief distinctions between the two great tribes? First Distinction. 

 Second. 



