406 



THE CRYPTOGAMIC STOVE. 



The plants wMch compose the twenty-fourth class of the Linnaean ai'- 

 rangement, called Cryptogamia, differ essentially from all others in the 

 peculiar conformation of their organs of fmctification. In the higher 

 classes of plants the male and female organs are visihle, and either exist 

 in the same or on distinct flowers in the same plant, and sometimes in 

 distinct plants altogether. The former or hermaphrodite order is by far 

 the most general. In Ciyptogamic plants the fructification either consists 

 of buds under a particular form, or in small vessels containing a powdery 

 substance analogous to seeds, but differing from aU seeds in not being the 

 result of impregnation, and also in haying the extraordinary power to 

 strike roots from any end, or even from any point of their surface. 



Hence this class has very properly been caUed Cryptogamia, signiiy-ing 

 a hidden or clandestine maiTiage. The seeds are exceedingly minute, 

 and require a powerful microscope to render them visible. Indeed, 

 most of the older botanists were almost convinced that they had no 

 seeds at all, and those who were less confirmed in this opinion beheved 

 them to be so rarely found as to render invisible the person who could 

 collect them. 



Of aU the tribes of plants which constitute this extensive class, that of 

 the Filices or Ferns is the most beautiful, and at the same time most 

 capable of cultivation. Many of the Musci or jMosses, and some of the 

 HqjaticcB or Liverworts, may, however, be successfully cultivated also. 



STRUCTUaE BEST CALCULATED FOR CULTIVATING CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS. 



Crj^Dtogamic plants are found in the hottest and coldest chmates, as 

 well as in those that are temperate. The largest and most splendid, as 

 well as the majority of them, are from the tropics ; a stove temperature, 

 therefore, must be maintained where the culture of them is to be indulged 



