4 
of a slender brown or red stem. The urn is drawn magni¬ 
fied, by the side of the little moss plant (fig. d), that its curious 
shape may be seen. When the seed is ripe} the top rises 
• up, and falls off, leaving the case open as here shewn, so 
as to let the purses out but they are still guarded by the 
little fringe of teeth in which ends the rim of their cup 
and which are so wondrously and beautifully made that 
they close up on the least touch of damp that might hurt 
the treasured seed within. Moss grows in clusters and 
cushions of the richest brightest green. Each tuft of vel¬ 
vet moss is in reality a fairp forest of tiny trees, each per¬ 
fect, with the green leaves below the brown stem bearing 
the graceful urn. Even the small round dot on the tiles of 
a house is a whole wood in itself, and there must be mil¬ 
lions of moss plants in the handfuls that are torn up to 
dress out a bowl of flowers. What would our woods be 
without their banks of elastic dry fresh moss, of that 
delicate soft green sort (the PROLIFEROUS HYPNUM) 
which has the graceful leaves so curving and so soft. 
How dreary our decayed trees would be were they not 
clothed by the HYPNUM of the plate; how much bright 
green moors and bogs would lose without the creeping 
Hypnum, always shewing a dangerous place} and the 
dark, tall, dank swan’s neck BRYUM. 
It was the examination of a little piece of moss, so freshly 
green, and so beautifully formed, that cheered the heart 
of the great traveller Mungo Park, w T hen he was ready to 
sink down with hunger, thirst and fatigue in the African 
desert, for the wondrous perfection of that tiny plant 
brought to his mind the presence and the care of the Great 
Creator, Whose Hand is over all His works. 
FERNS are plants which at first sight seem to be all leaf and 
no blossom. They love the hedge side, and the shelter of 
the rock, or woody bank where they may freely raise 
their delicate wavy foliage. They have a stiff strong 
footstalk, whence spreads the leafy part called by the 
learned the FROND, which usually bears the seed bearing 
portions. In the POLYPODY (fig. e) you may see, on the 
back of the leaves, some small dots; these are clusters 
of cases, in which lie the purses, filled with minute seeds. 
The purses, not to say the seeds, are so small that the eye 
cannot discover them, and so it used to be an old saying 
that those who gathered fern seed could walk invisible, 
meaning that the one w r as as imposible as the other. The 
polypody has these clusters in round dots, like little spots 
of gold on the back of the prettily divided fronds, ranged 
with perfect regularity. It may be found all over the 
British Islands, growing on old trees, ruins, banks or rocks 
and keeping its fresh bright green all the winter. The 
beautiful feathery MALE FERN and delicate LADY FERN 
have their dots much darker and far smaller. The long 
undivided fronds of the polished HARTSTONGUE have 
little brown lines, alternately long and short, on the back. 
The BRACKEN or EAGLE FERN has the latter name, 
because when the stem is cut through, there is a black 
mark, which some call a Spread Eagle, while others say 
it is King Charles in the Oak. It is the cover which most 
abounds in parks, as a shelter for deer, and which turning 
brown in autumn, gives the rich tinting to woods and 
moorlands; the fructification is carried on, not in dots; 
but under the edge of the frond which is turned over all 
the way round like a hem. Bracken has a great deal of 
potash in it, and is burnt in great quantities for the sake 
of the ashes which are used in making soap; it is also 
used for litter for pigs, and is the most profitable of Bri¬ 
tish Ferns. But in other countries, Ferns are far more 
important. In New-Zealand, they are eaten by the nati¬ 
ves, and in hot climates, they grow to the size of trees. 
Indeed it is plain that fern trees must once have grown 
in Great Britain, for the shape of many of their large lea¬ 
ves is to be found upon pieces of coal and this useful mineral 
is believed to be masses of moss, ferns, trees and other 
plants compressed closely together under some great 
heat. These plants with their unseen blossoms have had 
a strange share, in old times, in the formation of our world. 
II. PHCENOGAMOUS-PLANTS or FLOWERING- 
PLANTS. 
All these are so formed as to follow certain rules in producing 
their blossom and seed, and no one can look into a flower 
without being the more surprised and delighted, the 
more he examines, and also, it may be hoped, thank¬ 
ful that so much has been done to delight our eyes and 
our other senses by the beauty and sweetness of these 
blossoms. 
First there is what children call the 
FLOWER, the blue, pink, or 
white leaves. The proper name of 
this is the COROLLA, and each 
separate leaf of it is called a PE¬ 
TAL. In the ROSE (fig. i) the co¬ 
rolla is in five separate petals, in 
the Auricula (fig. k) it is in one 
single petal such as you could pull 
out all at once. This corolla is fas¬ 
tened, to keep it safe, into a green 
cup, called the CALYX, or chalice, 
which closed over it in the bud, and shut 
it in safely from harm till it was time 
for it to unfold. This calyx is the outer 
curtain, the corolla is the more beau¬ 
tiful smooth inner curtain of the dwel¬ 
ling place within the flower. The calyx 
is often rough or covered with spines, or 
perhaps with hairs or with down, to 
keep all safe and warm; the corolla is smooth, satiny, and 
often beautifully coloured. And what are the parts so 
choicely sheltered? See within, a number of long slender 
threads each bearing a yellow case on the summit. These 
threads are named STAMENS, 
the thready part is the filament 
the case which they bear is the 
ANTHER. When ripe it is full 
of fine yellow dust named POL¬ 
LEN, the same which is gathe¬ 
red by the Bees to make bee- 
bread, but which has another 
use in the flower. In the mid¬ 
dle of the stamens is a green or 
brown cushion sometimes ending 
in a knob, like a pin’s head, sometimes in a crown of 
points, sometimes in little hooks. This is the CAR¬ 
PEL or PISTIL which is to be¬ 
come the case for the seed. 
The top, whether pin’s head or 
crown, is named the STIGMA, 
the slender thread the STYLE, 
the cushion below, the GERM. 
The office of the anthers is to 
scatter their yellow dust on 
the stigma; whence it passes down the style, and this 
done, the corolla gradually fades away, while the germ 
enlarges, and in time becomes the fruit. In the wild rose 
(fig. i) the germ has swelled into the red fruit beside it, 
which has five divisions, one for every division of the 
carpel. In other plants, the carpel becomes a pod or a 
capsule, or a purse or a berry. There are 
infinite varieties of fruits as there are of 
forms of corolla and numbers of stamens, 
but the great rule is, that no seed is pro¬ 
duced without stamens and pistils. So¬ 
metimes they grow in separate flowers 
as in the OAK (fig. m) sometimes even in 
separate trees sometimes there is no co¬ 
rolla, sometimes no calyx, but stamens and carpels there 
must be. The only flowers without them are those which 
are called double, and these have their petals so multi¬ 
plied as to leave no room for the useful parts, and there¬ 
fore they can never produce any fruit. 
These FLOWERING-PLANTS are again divided into two great 
classes 
I. ENDOGENS & II. EXOGENS. 
(Inward Growers.) (Outward Growers.) 
Endogens or inward growers shoot up from the Earth with a 
single bud, of the full girth of the future stem. The outer 
part of the stem is the hardest; it is often hollow wdthin 
