STUDIES AMONG OUR COMMON HEPATIC/t. 

 By Alexander VV. Evans. 



II. LoPHOCOLEA HETEROPHYLLA (Schrad.) Diimort. 



THE 'first type which we studied, Jungcrinannia bai'bata., was 

 essentially a plant of the mountains and reached the plains 

 only as a rarity; our second type, LopJiocolca Jicterophylla., is 

 much more at home in the lowlands and is only occasionally 

 found at higher altitudes. Like the Jungernianuia it is a common, 

 species, and is also found in Europe and Siberia. It is, however, so 

 variable and grows in so many different kinds of places that it takes 

 some little time to become familiar with its many forms. Along the 

 coast, it seems to prefer sandy banks, where it often forms flat tufts of 

 considerable extent, the plants growing close together without any 

 regularity in their arrangement. If the banks are partially shaded, 

 the hepatic is bright green, but it becomes yellowish-green if exposed 

 to the sun. In such localities the plants are usually fertile, and the 

 fertile stems, which are at first closely appressed to the sub-stratum, 

 curve upward near the perianths so as to bring the latter into a vertical 

 position. If the perianths are at all numerous, they form a conspicu- 

 ous feature of the tufts and often aid us in the recognition of the 

 species. The Lophocolea is also common on rotten wood in shaded 

 places, particularly on old stumps, where it is sometimes pale or even 

 whitish-green in color. It may also be found, although more rarely, 

 on shaded earth, at the base of trees and even on shaded rocks. 

 Around the tufts it is usually possible to find prostrate stems, which 

 give a better idea of the ordinary vegetative characters of the plant 

 than the fertile stems. 



Although smaller than Jungerviannia barbata^ our Lophocolea is 

 by no means a small species, the individual plants often reaching a 

 length of i'^™- and measuring with the leaves 1-1.5™"^- in width. The 

 stems are delicate in texture and are built up of cells which show 

 little differentiation ; all of them have thin and colorless walls, and the 

 green cells of the superficial layer pass by gradual transitions into 

 the larger colorless cells of the interior. The pale rootlets are nor- 

 mally borne on the lower surface of the under leaves very close to the 

 base, and they may be limited to such situations; frequently, how- 

 ever, they are developed on the lower surface of the stem as well. 

 The stems 'do not branch copiously, but occasionally fork or give off a 

 lateral branch or two. 



The leaves here again are very obliquely inserted and are suc- 

 cubous; on robust fertile stems they are imbricated, sometimes 



