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Bronson Tweed Publishing
How to Know the Ferns
How to Know the Ferns
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CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. The Ferns and their Allies 1
II. Life Histories 13
III. Yesterday and To-day 23
IV. Three Dainty Ferns 33
V. The Bracken Fern and Two Interesting Species 38
VI. The Male Fern and its Relatives 46
VII. The Lady Fern and the Spleenworts 66
VIII. The Polypodies 86
IX. The Royal Fern 93
X. Four Curious Ferns 96
XI. The Club Mosses 101
XII. The Horsetails 112
XIII. Fern Collecting and Preserving 122
XIV. The Culture of Ferns 129
Index 133
In its lowest forms vegetable life is a very simple affair. The minute Algæ which clothe damp surfaces with a green film show few indeed of the characteristics with which we are familiar in the higher plants. Certainly they are green, proving that the tiny cells of which they are composed contain the wonderful colouring matter—chlorophyll, by means of which they are able to assimilate carbon from the carbonic acid of the air. There is, however, in these lowly plants no sign of a stem, a leaf, or a root. As we ascend in the scale of vegetable life we begin to get an increasing number of distinctive characters. In the case of the Mosses we have plants with distinct stems and leaves. But Mosses have no true roots, neither is there any vascular (woody) tissue in their composition. Mounting yet higher in the scale we come to a very important and interesting group of plants usually referred to as the Vascular Cryptogams. In this group are included the Ferns, the Horsetails, and the Club Mosses. In passing, it may be pointed out that the term Cryptogam is a name which was originally given to the flowerless plants by Linnæus to indicate that the plan of fertilization was hidden. The name is still retained, but it has lost its meaning in this sense, in that since the introduction of high-power microscopes it is not necessarily more difficult to study the fertilization of the non-flowering plants than it is to watch the process in the kinds which bear blossoms.
CHAP. PAGE
I. The Ferns and their Allies 1
II. Life Histories 13
III. Yesterday and To-day 23
IV. Three Dainty Ferns 33
V. The Bracken Fern and Two Interesting Species 38
VI. The Male Fern and its Relatives 46
VII. The Lady Fern and the Spleenworts 66
VIII. The Polypodies 86
IX. The Royal Fern 93
X. Four Curious Ferns 96
XI. The Club Mosses 101
XII. The Horsetails 112
XIII. Fern Collecting and Preserving 122
XIV. The Culture of Ferns 129
Index 133
In its lowest forms vegetable life is a very simple affair. The minute Algæ which clothe damp surfaces with a green film show few indeed of the characteristics with which we are familiar in the higher plants. Certainly they are green, proving that the tiny cells of which they are composed contain the wonderful colouring matter—chlorophyll, by means of which they are able to assimilate carbon from the carbonic acid of the air. There is, however, in these lowly plants no sign of a stem, a leaf, or a root. As we ascend in the scale of vegetable life we begin to get an increasing number of distinctive characters. In the case of the Mosses we have plants with distinct stems and leaves. But Mosses have no true roots, neither is there any vascular (woody) tissue in their composition. Mounting yet higher in the scale we come to a very important and interesting group of plants usually referred to as the Vascular Cryptogams. In this group are included the Ferns, the Horsetails, and the Club Mosses. In passing, it may be pointed out that the term Cryptogam is a name which was originally given to the flowerless plants by Linnæus to indicate that the plan of fertilization was hidden. The name is still retained, but it has lost its meaning in this sense, in that since the introduction of high-power microscopes it is not necessarily more difficult to study the fertilization of the non-flowering plants than it is to watch the process in the kinds which bear blossoms.
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