52 
THE T AS M A N IAN N ATU R A LI ST. 
suppose, do not possess chlorophyll, and therefore are dependant for 
their living, just like animals, upon their more gifted relatives. But 
we are not pursuing the physiological side of the subject. Our aim is 
to learn something of classification. It is not sufficient that we know a 
plant by sight and give it a name ; we want to know something of the 
relationship between plant and plant, and we wish to group them 
together in such a way that each lot shall consist only of beings truly 
related to one another, and not merely apparently so. 
In these papers we are only going to enquire into the grouping of 
plants into large, clear, well-defined primary groups, or, as they are 
called, divisions. 
All the principal divisions of the vegetable sub-kingdom are every¬ 
where about us, in the town as well as the bush. They are : — 
Flowering Plants Ferns Mosses 
Conifers Algx Fungi, including Lichens. 
These the casual observer will have little difficulty in recognising. 
To them may be added three divisions, which, though not rare, will not 
be as readily observed, namely :— 
Club-mosses Mycetozoa Protophyta 
The first division includes all plants bearing flowers, whether those 
organs be small and obscure, as in Grasses or Sheoke, or showy, as in 
Rose or Lily. 
Conifers include Pines and their allies, whose organs of reproduc¬ 
tion may be grouped in masses or cones, but never develop the true 
details usually associated with the name flower. 
Ferns have large leaves, no flowers, and produce on the back or 
margin of their leaves numerous minute crown spore cases. 
Club-mosses appear as if half-way between ferns and conifers. They 
are rather small, usually a few inches long ; the leaves are small and 
moss-like, and the spore sacks are single in the leaf axils, and generally 
the spore-bearing part is marked olT from the rest like a modified cone. 
Mosses are chiefly noticeable in being small and readily drying up. 
In typical cases the so-called fruit indicates the group. A slender stalk 
arises into the air, and bears on the summit a small capsule which, on 
maturity, is full of spores. 
Algse includes seaweeds as well as filamentous and scum-like green 
growths in fresh water, besides green, brown, or red growths on wet or 
damp places. 
Protophyta includes many primitive forms, extending from Algae to 
the lowest forms of life. It contains many green, blue, and nearly 
black, growths, some of which are common in gutters, as well as are 
bacteria. 
Fungi constitute a large and peculiar group that appears to branch 
off from the Algai. They none of them develop chlorophyll, but may be 
of vivid colour, though never of a pure green. Lichens, which are so 
common on the ground, on rocks, and on the trunks of trees, are com¬ 
posed of fungi living in parasitic combinations with Algse or Protophyta. 
