CoLENSO. — On Tico New Crijptogamic PlanU. 449 



Originally discovered in Japan, hence its name of japoni- 

 cmn. It has since been found to be widely spread through 

 Eastern Asia, ranging from Japan aiid China to India and 

 Malacca. It also occurs in several of the islands of the Malay 

 Archipelago, in New Guinea, and has been recorded from Fiji 

 and Samoa and others of the Polynesian islands. 



Art. LVII.— ^^ Description of Two Ncioly -discovered Indi- 

 genous Cryptogamic Plants. 



By W. CoLENSO, F.R.S., F.L.S., &c. 



[Read before the Hawke's Bay Philosoplilad Institute, Sth July, 1889.] 



Isoetes, Linn. 



1. i. ijudtaiigularis, sp. nov. 



Root a tuber as big as a small marble, orbicular in outline, 

 sub-conical, 8-9 lines long, 6-7 Hues diameter, multangular, 

 deeply furrowed, covered with a dense coating of fine dark- 

 brown hairs ; a cross-section shows 5-6 broadly-obovate and 

 nearly regular pure- white knobs (or lobes), their sinuses each 

 2-3 lines deep, with a minute central pith-like ring (prima 

 facie reminding of a small prinn'ose corolla) . Rootlets many, 

 very long — 3in.-5in., filiform, mostly simple, brown. Leaves 

 numerous, 15-20 and upwards, Gin. -Tin. long, erect, linear, 

 very acumi)iate, sub-rigid, brittle, glabrous, glossy, minutely 

 and clearly marked in quadrilateral divisions, the upper por- 

 tion light-green, the lower white, semi-terete on the under and 

 slightly flattened on the upper surface, regularly septate in 4 

 alternate longitudinal divisions as if composed of 4 rows, 

 tips terete filiform, apex obtuse, breadth at middle jV^-' ^^^ 

 lower portion for lin.-li^in. canaliculate with the margins 

 membranous and gradually conniving, decreasing upwards, the 

 basal portion for about lin. dilated to nearly 3 lines in 

 breadth. Below the leaves on the outside are broadly elliptic 

 light-brown transparent scales with a thickened dark centre 

 and very finely reticulated, their margins irregularly lacerate 

 and tip apiculate. Sporangium ovoid, sides straight, sub 

 2 lines long and 1 line wide. ^lacrospores of various shapes, 

 some hemispherical, others globoso-tetrahedric like segments 

 of spheres, usually smooth, a few only having 2 or 3 minute 

 points; and also varying in size from J^, in. to ^^^m. diameter 

 Microspores very minute, globular and sub-elliptic, hyaline, 

 wo'soin-- ^T^oo"!- <liameter. 

 29 



