18 



ai^aijTtical class-book of botant. 



mingled, and often indiscriminately represent each other. 

 Hence there is no perfect development of either Koot, 

 Stem, or Leaf, while thefunctions of thoseorgans are equal- 

 ly imperfect and obscure in their origin and all their action. 

 The Cryptogamia, as you have already seen, are pro- 

 duced from spores, and not from seeds, as in the higher 

 plants. 



107. Distinctions between Spores and Seeds. — 

 Spores have no fixed or predetermined points of growth, 

 but put forth from any part of their surface. They con- 

 tain no embryo or organized plantlet, composed of definite 

 parts, each of which is developed in a particular manner 

 and direction, but they are simple cellular masses, any 

 part of which might represent the whole. But a proper 

 seed contains the rudiments of an organized plantlet, 

 which, having a pre-existing form and vitality, is only 

 developed in germination. 



108. In the Cryptogamia, then, we find only the rudi- 

 ments of special organism, whether nutritive or repro- 

 ductive, which, from being undistinguishably blended in 

 plants of a single cell, rise by fine gradations into the 

 more perfect orders; but in none of them is there any 

 thing like the flower of higher plants, whose parts and 

 offices you will better understand when they are more 

 clearly defined. 



109. The Mushroom, or Fungous tribes, are almost 

 uniformly gray or brown. Mildew, which belongs to 

 this Order, is generally black ; and though Moulds some- 

 times exhibit brighter colors — especially blue — and arbo- 

 rescent structures, which, under the microscope, reveal 

 the most exquisite proportions and delicacy of texture — 

 yet the very conditions in which they are produced excite 

 disgust, rather than any ideas of beauty, at least in the 

 common mind. Seaweeds often exhibit very bright hues, 

 and sometimes really splendid coloring ; and in size they 

 range from plants of several hundred feet in length — - 

 some of them having enormous leaves — to thousands of 

 species really microscopic. Liverworts are chiefly suc- 

 culent, but in their green or greenish foliage is seen an 

 imperfect delineation of the finished structure. Mosses 

 are often delicate and beautiful, and in the plumose 

 verdure of many Ferns there is an aerial lightness and 

 delicacy which nothing can surpass ; yet in none of them 

 do we find that completeness of beauty which really satis- 

 fies and fills the mind. And amid all this mass of vege- 

 tation, comparatively few plants are economically valu- 

 able. They are at best rudimental series, and now pre- 

 serve the transitions through which the vegetable type 

 has passed ; and whether we are seeking a high degree 



DistiDction between Spores and Seeds Organism of thfi Cryptogamia, 



of Beauty or Use, we shall seldom find it, except in 

 the 



110. Phjenogamia. — It is true that beauty exists in 

 all things, yet the higher we rise the more completely is it 

 unfolded — ^for the excellence of all the lower forms is 

 comprehended and elaborated in the higher. And now, 

 having reached this perfected type, we unfold all the 

 beauty, all the riches, of the vegetable world. Do not 

 the Rose and the Lily seem inspired with the very ulti- 

 mate splendor of all inferior hues, and their lustrous 

 petals wrought with the exquisite delicacy of a master- 

 hand, which had wrought many ere it had made one so 

 beautiful as these ? And what is true of the Rose and 

 Lily is true also of a thousand others. Buttercups and 

 Daisies are free gifts of the rich and generous Earth, 

 yet in their burnished gold and purple there is a splen- 

 dor transcending the raiment of kings ; and even the 

 simplest flower that opens its blue eyes along the beaten 

 roadside has a look of love, that should be to us an angel 

 of blessing. The richness, and bloom, and verdure, of 

 fruit, and flowers, and foliage — the shadowy forest paths, 

 the sunny hill sides, and meadows spangled with a thou- 

 sand blossoms, are common spectacles, and yet we never 

 cease to feel their power, because there is an innate love 

 of beauty in the human soul. 



111. Whether we are conscious of it or not, the 

 wealth of the Vegetable World is for ever spread out be- 

 fore us, and enters into the details and the sum, of all 

 our necessities, all our enjoyments. We behold on every 

 hand myriads of blessings, which have been figured, from 

 ancient times, under the gifts of Flora, and Ceres, and 

 Pomona; but in being accustomed to their uses, we for- 

 get their bounty. Mountains clothed with wood — valleys 

 smiling with gi-ass and corn — orchards laden with fragrant 

 bloom in spring, and mellow fruits in autumn — fields of 

 grain, bending beneath the riches of the coming harvest 

 — Maize, waving its green arms, with gracious invitations 

 to the great Thanksgiving Feast — the purple clusters of 

 the Vine — the brown Nuts of the wood-side — Roots, stored 

 away in the nourishing soil — the blue Flax flower, and 

 the tufted Cotton plant — the snowy Rice, golden Wheat 

 sheaves, and the juices of the luscious Cane, are but a 

 few of these, and yet how wide and rich is the overflowing 

 horn which they contribute to fill ! And in all exterior 

 forms and substances you shall find a higher beauty, a 

 truer use, a more excellent richness, when you are im- 

 bued with the spirit of their beautiful life, so that they 

 may unfold, and blossom, and bear fruit in the mind, for 



What especially wanting ? Character of Fungi, Seaweeds, Licliens, Liver- 

 worts, Mosses, Ferns. General character of Cryptogamia. 



