IOO 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
pther plants ? The general answer to this ques- 
tion is that a fern is a flowerless plant. Although 
flowerless, it is not seedless ; but its peculiarity is 
that it acquires its seeds without the intervention 
of flowers. Let us borrow just one hard word 
from botany — and we only do so because in one 
word it explains the most exact distinction between 
ferns and other seed-bearing plants. Ferns, then, 
belong among plants to the class Cryptogamia , 
which literally means “ concealed fructification.” 
They are therefore, although flowerless, seed- 
bearing plants, and when they bear seed they 
hide it away. Those who have never seen a fern 
would naturally, at first, experience some little 
difficulty in knowing — although bearing in mind 
the general definition which we have given — how 
to distinguish a fern from another plant when 
both are — the one without seeds, and the other 
without flowers or seeds. No definition which 
would be sufficiently popular for our purpose 
can be offered to remove this difficulty. Certain 
peculiarities of ferns can be mentioned, and when 
these are remembered, one or two visits to a 
