Flowering plants, which make up the bulk of the vegetation of the earth, have been discussed in some detail, not only because they furnish us with all the things that make life possible, but also because they show perhaps better than anything else the division of labor, all striving for one end. Roots, the food gatherers. Stems, the framework for the foliage and its means of reaching the light, or as a storage house for reserve food. Leaves of many kinds, all factories working night and day to make the necessary food. Flowers of every hue and shape to lure insects, or by other means secure union of male and female. Fruits to ripen the result of this mating of the sexes. And, finally, the seed carrying with it the yet unborn life. Each part occasionally losing itself in order that the end may be accomplished, many of them changing their form or even their function where that is of advantage, all in their separate ways doing their task, the end of which they cannot see, and the fruits of which they will never enjoy. Nowhere is it so true as in plants that to save oneself there must be the capacity to give oneself. Untold millions of leaves fall, or trees crash down, or seeds are developed, each fulfilling their destiny which is to insure the perpetuation of their kind. As we shall see later on, there are many mistakes, many apparently futile attempts, thousands are wiped out that one may be saved, and in the past multitudes have gone out forever. Yet the result of it all is the plant world as we know it to-day, each kind struggling to increase its sphere of influence, or to cover more of the earth’s area. The combat between different kinds is inexorable, yet the capacity for sacrifice on the part of different organs, in order that a certain individual kind may win, is literally beyond belief. 2. FLOWERLESS PLANTS In the light of what has been said about flowers it may well be questioned how anything can be a plant and still have no flower. The fact is that flowers as we commonly understand them are unknown in the plants about to be discussed, but that what _corresponds_ to a flower, and performs the _function_ of a flower all plants must and do have. In the case of most flowering plants the possession of flowers is one of the beauties of nature in its most resplendent mood, while in the so-called flowerless plants the functions of flowers are performed by tiny microscopic organs, even the existence of which has been only recently discovered. Because flowering plants produce their sexual organs in such a gorgeous setting, for all the world to see their matings they have been called _phanerogams_, which means literally visible marriage, while the flowerless plants which perform similar functions in more secret ways are called _cryptogams_, meaning hidden marriage.