The New Student's Reference Work/Angiosperms

Angiosperms (ăn' jĭ-ō-sperms). One of the two divisions of seed plants, or Spermatophytes, the other being Gymnosperms. It is the highest and most recent great group of plants, and to it belong almost all the plants of ordinary experience. The group contains over 100,000 described species, and at the present time furnishes the chief vegetation of the earth's surface. To it belong all the true flowering plants, as well as the plants directly useful to man. The bodies of angiosperms are exceedingly varied in size, habit and duration. They range in size from no larger than the head of a pin to the giant redwood; in habit, from floating and creeping to erect; in duration, from a few weeks to centuries. The name refers to the fact that the seeds are inclosed in a case, and are not freely exposed as in the Gymnosperms. The two subdivisions of angiosperms are the Monocotyledons, to which grasses, lilies, palms, orchids, etc., belong; and the Dicotyledons, to which the common trees, buttercups, roses, mints, sunflowers, etc., belong. For a further account see Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons.