4 THE HEPATICiE OF VERMONT. 



dant on the trees and fallen logs of swamps and bogs. Some of the thalloid 

 forms of hepatics are frequently mistaken for lichens. The lichens, how- 

 ever, are usually dry and leathery and of dull color, usually not green, 

 while hepatics are more loose and spongy in structure and of bright green 

 color. 



The foliaceous forms are moss-like in appearance and it is often difficult 

 to distinguish them from true mosses without a microscope. Generally, 

 however, they can be distinguished by the fact that the leaves of hepatics 

 are two-ranked, one row on each side of the stem, while the leaves of mosses 

 are in several or many ranks. The leaves of no foliaceous forms have a true 

 mid- vein while in mosses this is usually present. The following table* will 

 show briefly the distinctions between hepatics and mosses. 



HEPATIC.E. 



I. — Plant body varying, in differ- I. — 



ent species, from a thallus to a 

 leafy axis. 



II. — Stems bilateral, consisting of II. 

 • an upper and lower surface, 



distinct in appearance and 

 structure. 



III. — Leaves 2-ranked, often with 

 rudiments of a third, never 

 with a true mid-vein. 



MUSCI. 



Plant body always a leafy 

 axis. 



-Stems not bilateral, uniformly 

 developed. 



III. — Leaves 3-many-ranked (some- 

 times 2-ranked, ) usually 

 with a mid-vein. 



IV. — Root hairs unicellular. IV. — 



V. — Calyptra remaining below at V. 

 the base of the capsule which 

 ruptures its upper portion. 



VI. — Capsule maturing before rup- VI. — i 

 turing the calyptra, usually 

 opening by 2 or 4 valves, or 

 irregularly. 



VII. — Columella wanting (except in VII. 



Anthocerotacex ) . 



Root hairs usually composed 

 of a row of cells. 



Calyptra ruptured at the base 

 by the capsule which it 

 covers as a cap. 



Capsule maturing after ruptur- 

 ing the calyptra, usually 

 opening by a special lid. 



VIII. — Elaters mixed with the spores YIII. 

 (except in Ricdacew). 



-Columella always present (at 

 least in an early stage of 

 development). 



-Elaters never present. 



• Underwood, Lucien M. Descriptive Catalog of North American Henaticas, North of 

 Mexico. Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist. 2 : 1884. Quoted with slight tnodihcations. 



