Plants and their ways in South Africa . egg pockets beneath.(From Thom6 and Bennetts Structural and Physiological Botany.) which escape when the antheridia are ripe, and swim about bymeans of tiny lashes, cilia, attached to them. They are ex-tremely small, and can only be seen by means of a the stars on the other stalks, protected by delicatelyfringed curtains, are bottle-shaped bodies, each containing anegg-cell. These are sought out by the sperm-cells, which unitewith them just as the nucleus in pollen grains unites with theegg-cell in an ovule of higher plants. As a re
Plants and their ways in South Africa . egg pockets beneath.(From Thom6 and Bennetts Structural and Physiological Botany.) which escape when the antheridia are ripe, and swim about bymeans of tiny lashes, cilia, attached to them. They are ex-tremely small, and can only be seen by means of a the stars on the other stalks, protected by delicatelyfringed curtains, are bottle-shaped bodies, each containing anegg-cell. These are sought out by the sperm-cells, which unitewith them just as the nucleus in pollen grains unites with theegg-cell in an ovule of higher plants. As a result of this union. Classification of Plants 227 the egg divides rapidly and forms a sporogonium, consistingof a sporangium borne on a short stalk which is attached bymeans of a foot to the umbrella from which it derives itsnourishment. When ripe, the sporangium bursts and dis-charges a golden dust of spores. These are scattered by windand grow to form new plants like those formed by the gemmae,the gametophytic or sex-bearing stage. S. Fig. 200.—Transverse section through the middle portion of thallus ofPellia epiphylla. R, rhizoids ; S, S, sheath ; St, stalk of antheridium ; A,capsule or head of antheridium (magnified). (From Evans * Intermediate TextBook of Botany .) Mosses, like liverworts, usually grow best in moist, shadyplaces. We can find mosses on the ground under the shadeof bushes and trees, or on the trunks of trees, but they growbest in moist woods or ravines. If no woods are near, look onthatched roofs, which are often beautifully green with moss onthe shaded southern slope. Mosses have leafy stems, and by examining the tips ofthese stems in early spring, sharp eyes, with a hand lens, can 15* 228 Plants and their Ways in South Africa just detect in the tops of some of the stalks little bodies, sur-
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectplants, bookyear1915
