CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD 333 



of the flora have been mentioned on page 302. The tribes of 

 plants are here repeated in tabular form : — 



1. Phjsnogams, or Flowering Plants ; the inferior class Gymno- 

 sperms. (See page 165 for the signification of the terms used in the 

 classification of plants.) 



a. True Conifers. 



b. Sigillarids, related to the Conifers. 



2. Calamites, — plants with jointed stems or trunks, supposed 

 by Brongniart to rank nearer Gymnosperms than the Equiseta 

 among Acrogens. 



3. Cryptogams, or Flowerless Plants ; the superior class Acrogens. 



a. Lycopodium or Ground-Pine family. 



b. Ferns. 



c. Equiseta. 



The frontispiece may be again referred to for a general idea of the features 

 and also the characteristic plants of the Coal era : — the Lycopodium, a large tree 

 on the right of the picture, and another on the left; the Sigillaria, a broken 

 stump in the right corner; the Tree-fern, a tree with spreading top near the 

 centre of the picture, copied from a drawing of a modern species ; ordinary 

 ferns, the low plants with spreading leaves or fronds beneath the Tree-fern, etc., 

 in the foreground. 



Remains of Fungi (or Mushrooms) occur, but are not common ; 

 and these, with Sea-weeds (marine Algse), are the only kinds of 

 lower Cryptogams known to be present. There is no evidence of 

 the existence of Mosses, Lichens, or Liverworts (Hepaticse). Even 

 the simple Confervse (fresh-water Algse), sometimes called frog- 

 spittle, were not in the ponds of the Coal-era. 



There were no Angiosperms, and, in all probability, no Palms or 

 other Endogens. 



A few remaining species of plants have been referred to the 

 Grasses, Sedges, and Palms, and some small Endogens related to 

 the Lily tribe. But these are rare and of uncertain determination. 

 The order of Palms has been supposed to be represented in the 

 genera Flalellaria, Noeggerathia, Palmacites, and Trigonocarpum ; but the 

 species are now believed to belong to other groups. 



Although the vegetation was very largely cryptogamous, yet it 

 was in a great degree forest-vegetation. Should we collect all the 

 existing terrestrial Cryptogams of North America, in order to make 

 a forest of them, the forest would hardly overtop a man's head, 

 and the Ferns would have an undergrowth of toad-stools, mosses, 

 and lichens. 



Tree-ferns now grow only in the tropics. The largest modern 



