126 



THE CBYPTOGAMIA OB FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 



511, Chara foetiiln. 513, 

 Portion of a br;iDcli ; tlia 

 two reproductive organs- 

 it, Globule; &, nacule. 



bearing slender, whorled, leafless branches. The 

 mosses and HepatieiB have filiform stems and 

 branches, erect and creeping. Fern leaves and 

 mushrooms arise on stipes. 



626. Leaves. The ferns are characterized by 

 their groat development of leaves called fronds. 

 They are rarely simple, often pinnatifiA, or pin- 

 nate, simply, doubly or triply. Their venation is 

 fork-veined and their vernation circinate. The 

 loaves of the mosses and Hepatica; are veinlcss 

 and delicate, mostly ovate and entire, numerously 

 covering the axis. Those of the latter are often 

 garnished with stipule-like processes called am- 

 pkigastria. 



627. Thallus. The \egetative system of the Thallogens consi.'ts 

 either of delicate fiLimonte or of flattened membranes, varying in color 

 through every shade and hue. In Marohantia, lichens, and seaweeds it 

 is green, olive or red, and called 

 thallus. It may resemble a leaf 

 or a stem, but its functions are 

 still the same. In size it varies 

 from the microscopic ConfervsB 

 to the gigantic seawrack, a fur- 

 long in length. Its structure is 

 purely cellular and uniform, or, 

 as in Marchautia, in layers. 



628. Mycelium or spawn is 

 the vegetative system of the 

 Fungi, distinguished from thalli 

 by its want of coloring matter 

 in its cells. It consists of 

 meshes of white or colorless 

 filaments, branching and anas- 

 tamosing to form entangled 

 masses pervading the substance 

 in which the Fungus grows. It 

 is far less conspicuous than the fructification (toad-stool, etc.) which 

 ultimately arises from it. 



629. The reproductive organs of the Cryptogamia- are the anthe- 

 ndia and archegonia ; ar.d by their reaction spores in various spore- 

 vessels arc producMl They have been detected in nearly all the cryp- 

 togamic tribes, and are suppo^d to represent the stamens and pistils 



B18 .''23 



Mosses. 513, Polytricliiam. 514, Spornnf^c with 

 calyptra, without calypti-a. 515, Spurrin^L- (eu- 

 iavged) with the operculam at top. 51G, Muimn, 

 517, Sporange. 518, Bartramia. 519, Sjiorangro 

 with calyptra. 620, Sauie mature, open. 521, Po- 

 ristomo. with its teeth. 532, Anthoridium and 

 parapbascs (a flower) of Polytrichium. 



