Photo courtesy of Maureen Gilmer / DIY A very dense moss thrives in the moisture of this seep.

Flowering plants appeared just 130 million years ago, which is modern history in evolutionary terms. For 300 years before the first flower, its predecessors were evolving from the most primitive single-celled algae to complex land plants. Oddly enough, many of these primitive fellows are still alive and well today. We're just not tuned into them because they lack color flowers. Yet these ancient denizens of the forest fill vital niches in the worldwide web of life.

They prefer the forest floor, where it is damp and cool beneath the trees. Here, moisture is held under a protective duff layer of organic litter. These plants also cling to north-facing cliffs and hunker down at the bottom of stream canyons where the sun rarely penetrates.

When William Cullina's "Native Ferns, Moss and Grasses" (Houghton Mifflin, 2008, $40) came across my desk, I knew that it was going to bring this little-known realm to light. The subtitle says it all: "From Emerald Carpet to Amber Wave: Serene and Sensuous Plants for the Garden." You won't find big flower pictures nor rainbow hues. Here, we can delve into the predecessors of the flowering world to discover their subtle roles in nature and in our gardens.

All across America live immense populations of nonflowering plants. In this book, you are given a closer look at those that are native to North America. There are sections on mosses, ferns and their close relatives, all of which reproduce by spores. The second half of the book is dedicated to more advanced grasses, sedges and rushes. These plants are often found in conjunction with mosses and ferns, but they produce actual seeds.

The ferns are shown with color photos accompanied by extensive discussion of where they are found in nature and what they need in the garden. Because it features only natives, this book helps us zero in on the ferns best suited to our local climate.

The section on mosses helps the novice understand this most primitive of all cultivated plants. A detailed anatomical discussion with illustrations shows how mosses grow. Mosses hold spores in tiny pods atop hair-thin stems to better release them into the atmosphere. The third section deals with blade-leafed plants from American wildlands. While ornamental grasses are nothing new, native sedges and rushes are far less well-known. Although sedges may seem identical to sun-loving grasses, this group is tolerant of shade. Use sedges to create grassy textures in the wild shade garden to crowd out weeds naturally.

Rushes are concentrated in low-lying, wet areas and are vital problem solvers for wet home sites. They're part of the edge conditions of rivers, lakes and ponds, helping to bind the soil against high water erosion.

— Maureen Gilmer is a horticulturist and host of "Weekend Gardening" on DIY Network. Contact her at her Web site http://www.moplants.com or visit http://www.diynetwork.com.