74 PLANT LIFE. 



The division of the Vegetable Kingdom into two pri- 

 mary groups, Cryptogams and Phanerogams, originated with 

 Linnaeus ; but, according to the artificial system of this 

 author, the arrangement depended on the number and 

 position of the only sexual organs known to him {stamens 

 and pistils), and all plants possessing such constituted the 

 division Phanerogamia, commonly known as Flowering 

 plants ; whereas the ferns, mosses, seaweeds, funguses, etc., 

 not possessing these organs, constituted the division Cryp- 

 togamia, sometimes called Flowerless plants, and considered 

 by Linnaeus as a subordinate department of the Vegetable 

 Kingdom. 



The most generally accepted primary division of the 

 Vegetable Kingdom at the present day is into the two 

 divisions formed by Linnaeus, and his names are still 

 retained, but with a totally different signification; and the 

 idea of flowering and flowerless plants is incorrect, because 

 in a broad sense every specialized structure for the purpose 

 of reproducing a plant sexually is equally a flower, and 

 sexual reproduction is general amongst Cryptogams ; in fact 

 universal in all except the simplest forms. In Cryptogams 

 the contact of the antherozoid or fertilizing element with the 

 oosphere or female organ is always effected by the agency of 

 water, consequently the sexual organs remain very minute, 

 and unattended by such supernumerary parts as calyx and 

 corolla, the latter, appearing with the evolution of the 

 Phanerogamia on dry land, which consequently had to make 

 arrangements for a new method of fertilization in those cases 

 where structural peculiarities rendered self-fertilization im- 

 possible. In accordance with this requirement the essential 

 parts of the flower also increased in size, either for the 

 purpose of utilizing the wind or insects in this connection. 



