THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



latter have long ago descended from their pristine emi- 

 nence to a very humble place in nature, the former still, 

 in the southern hemisphere at least, retain their arboreal 



dimensions and an- 

 cient dominance. 



The family of 

 the Equisetacece, or 

 mare's-tails, was also 

 represented by large 

 species of Calamites 

 and by Asterophyl- 

 lites in the Erian ; 

 but, as its headquar- 

 ters are in the Car- 

 boniferous, we may 

 defer its considera- 

 tion till the next 

 chapter. (Figs. 27, 

 28.) 



Passing over these 

 for the present, we 

 find that the flower- 

 ing plants are repre- 

 sented in the Erian 

 forests by at least 

 two types of Gym- 

 nosperms, that of 

 Taxinece or yews, 

 and an extinct family, that of the Cordaites (Figs. 30, 31). 

 The yew-trees are closely allied to the pines and spruces, 

 and are often included with them in the family of Coniferce. 

 They differ, however, in the habit of producing berries or 

 drupe-like fruits instead of cones, and there is some 

 reason to believe that this was the habit of the Erian 

 trees of this group, though their wood in some in- 

 stances resembles rather that of the Araucaria, or Nor- 



Fig. 28. — AsteropJiyllites (Erian, New Bruns- 

 wick), a, AsteropJiyllites latifolia. b, Do., 

 apex of stem (?) fruit, c, c 1 , A. scutigera. 

 d, A. latifolia, larger whorl of leaves. 

 D», Leaf. 



