Flowerless plants : how and where they grow / by S. Leonard Bastin.

  • Bastin, S. Leonard.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Flowerless plants : how and where they grow / by S. Leonard Bastin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    spore—a tiny speck of life—first of all appears on the scene, until the final unfolding of the mature plant, there is a strong element of romance such as is not by any means always present in a scientific record. It is not easy to give a decided opinion on the real position of ferns in ancient times. It was formerly considered that a large number of the fossil remains now classed as BennettitecB were true ferns. As we have seen in the previous chapter, these really represent a very distinct type. When we consider the conditions, atmospheric and otherwise, of the steamy coal forests, it is likely that ferns very similar to those on the earth at the present time were strongly represented. With club mosses and horsetails they must surely have been a leading feature of the vegetation at that period. Many of the non-flowering plants are mere masses of cellular tissue, but the ferns are very striking in their manner of growth. More- over, as in the case of flowering species, these plants have roots, stems and leaves in a well defined sense. Several of our native ferns grow into large plants which, on account of their size alone, would attract a good deal of