1906] Evans, Notes on New England Hepaticae,— IV 39 



In Husnot's^ description the bracts are said to be divided into two 

 dentate and acute lobes, while Bouhiy' describes them as erect and 

 emarginate at the apex or bifid and denticulate. Howe^ ascribes to 

 them a truncate or retuse apex, and Pearson* states that they are oblong- 

 quadrate in form, undivided or obtusely emarginate at the apex, the 

 margin being entire or bearing one or two teeth. The study of a series 

 of specimens, either European or American, soon makes it evident 

 that these various descriptions, although so difi'erent, are all substanti- 

 ally correct and that a comi^U^te characterization of the bracts should 

 be' elastic enough to include all these diverse conditions. The peri- 

 gonial bracts are in many resi)ects intermediate between the bracts 

 just described and the leaves but show a little pocket at the antical 

 base, which encloses the anthcridium. 



The perianth is terete below but sharply three-keeled above and 

 divided for about one third its length into three distinct lobes. The 

 lobes are plane or nearly so and represent the ])rolongations of the 

 three plane faces of the i)erianth, which are separated by the keels. 

 It is in these lobes that the variability of the perianth becomes mani- 

 fest. They are sometimes truncate and undivided, sometimes retuse 

 and sometimes distinctly bifid; the margin may be either entire or 

 more or less toothed, the teeth being irregular in number, in distribu- 

 tion and in size. Ajiparently tiiere is sometimes a correlation between 

 strongly toothed lobes and strongly toothed bracts, but this is not 

 always to be discerned, and it frequently happens that the lobes of a 

 single perianth will vary among tliemselves. 



The underleaves are deeply divided into two slender and acuminate 

 divisions. They are either entire on the margins or bear a single 

 tooth on one or on both sides, tlie lateral teeth being usually only one 

 or two cells long. The ]ierichactial bracteole is usually similar to the 

 other underleaves but is considerably larger. Sometimes, however, 

 it is irregularly dentate or lacerate. 



So far as the writer can determine after careful study, Ivindberg s 

 Lophocoka Austin i should be considered a synonym of L. hetcrophylla. 

 Lindberg based his species on the specimens which Austin distributed 

 in his Hep. Bor.-Ainer., 65b, as L. minor. He accredits it with a 



1 Hep. Gall. 53. 187.5. 



2 Muse, de la France 2: 81. 1904. 

 ■■> Mem. Torrey Club 7: 117, 1899. 

 -• Hep. British Isles 251. 1900. 



