PAST HISTORIES OF PLANT FAMILIES 83 



flowering plants as a whole, it is impossible to come to 

 a more definite conclusion about this much-discussed 

 subject. 



Let us now attempt to picture the vegetable- com- 

 munities since the appearance of the flowering plants. 

 The facts which form the bases of the following- concep- 

 tions have been gathered from many lands by numerous 

 workers in the field of fossil botany, from scattered plant 

 remains such as have been described. 



When the flowering plants were heralded in they 

 appeared in large numbers, and already by the Creta- 

 ceous period there were very many different species. 

 Of these a number seem to belong to genera which are 

 still living, and many of them are extremely like living 

 species. It would be wearisome and of little value to 

 give a list of all the recorded species from this period, 

 but a few of the commoner ones may be mentioned to 

 illustrate the nature of the plants then flourishing. 



Several species of Querctis (the Oak) appeared early, 

 particularly Querciis Ilex; leaves of the Jtiglandace^s 

 (Walnut family) were very common, and among the 

 Tertiary fossils appear its fruits. Both Populus (the 

 Poplar) and Salix (the Willow) date from the early 

 rocks, while Ficus (the Fig) was very comrnon, and 

 Casuarina (the Switch Plant) seems to have been widely 

 spread. Magnolias also were common, and it appears 

 that Platanus (the Plane) and Eucalyptus coexisted with 

 them. 



It will be immediately recognized that the above 

 plants have all living representatives, either wild or 

 cultivated, growing in this country at the present day, 

 so that they are more or less familiar objects, and there 

 appears to have been no striking difference between the 

 early flowering plants and those of the present day. Be- 

 tween the ancient Lycopods, for example, and those now 

 living the differences are very noteworthy ; but the earliest 

 of the known flowering plants seem to have been essen- 

 tially like those now flourishing. It must be remem- 



