68 PLANT LIFE. i 



corolla large and showy for attractive purposes, whi|e the 

 central or disc florets have the corolla much smaller, the 

 stamens and pistil perfect, and produce the seeds. 



In all Cryptogams where the sexual organs of reproduc- 

 tion are differentiated, water is the agent that enables the 

 antherozoid or fertilizing body, which in the great majority 

 of cases is motile, or possessed of the power of spontaneous 



Fig. 12. — "Liverv/orl {.\fjrcAa/itm polymor/'Aa). A, an almost ripe anther- 

 idium ; p, paraphyses ; B, antherozoids (A x go, B x 600). (From 

 Strasburger.) 



movement, to reach the oosphere or body to be fertilized. 

 This statement is equally true of those groups of Crypto- 

 gams that are established on dry land, as the mosses and 

 ferns, where the sexual phase is developed during the 

 winter or rainy season. The rigid adherence to this method 

 by Cryptogams may possibly have to do with their distribu- 

 tion, being as a body confined to damp forests and humid 

 localities. 



With the evolution of Phanerogams the utilization of 

 water as a means for enabling the pollen or fertilizing body. 



