CRYPTOGAMS.
Reading edition
The cryptogamic or flowerless plants, i. e., those having neither stamens nor pistils, and which are propagated by spores, are divided, according to Dr. Hooper, into the following four classes:—Pteridophyta or vascular acrogens, represented by the ferns, club-mosses, etc.; Bryophyta or cellular acrogens, represented by the musci, scale-mosses, etc.; Algæ, represented by the "Red Seaweeds," Diatomacæ, etc.; Fungi or Amphigens, which include the molds, mildews, mushrooms, etc. The lichens, according to the "Schwendener Hypotheses," consist of ascigerous fungi parasitic on algæ.