352 CHARACE^E. [Chara. 



culated. — 2. Nucules, which are ovate, consisting of a hard, 

 spirally twisted, crustaceous integument, often crowned with 

 five projecting points, filled with minute granules, which, how- 

 ever, perhaps, in maturity constitute one body. — Aquatic plants, 

 always submerged, formed of simple or compound, membrana- 

 ceous, sometimes brittle tubes, smooth or spirally striated, often 

 invested with a calcareous covering, jointed at the insertion of the 

 branches, which are dichotomous and whorled. 



The genus Chara has been variously placed by different 

 Botanists. The organs of fructification being of two kinds, 

 sometimes near each other, at other times apart, the greater 

 number of Botanists of the Linnaean School have placed it either 



in MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA, Or in MONCECIA MONANDRIA 



Linnaeus himself at first placed it in Cryptogamia, and such 

 seems to be the prevalent opinion with the followers of the Na- 

 tural System. Richard first proposed that it should constitute 

 a separate order, widely removed as it is from every other; so 

 much so, that it would be difficult to say to which it is most 

 allied. Dubis and De Candolle have placed it (as I have done) 

 next to the Equisetaceae, but with a note of doubt as to the pro- 

 priety of doing so. — For a more detailed description of this 

 genus, see Hooker s Br. Fl. v. ii. p. 242, where it is placed next 

 to the Algae. 



1. Chara. Vaill. Chara. 



(Character the same as that of the Order.) Name; its origin 

 unknown. 



* More or less pellucid and flexible, not striated. (Nitella. Ag.) 



1. C. translucens, Pers. Translucent Chara. Elongated, 

 smooth, flaccid, glossy and pellucid ; branches of the whorls 

 elongated, patent, obtuse, simple, with a short point; nucules and 

 globules upon the smaller ramuli scarcely bracteated. Br. Fl. 

 v. ii. p. 245.— Pers. Syn. PL v. 2. p. 531. E. Bot. t. 1703. 

 E. Fl. v. i. p. 8. — Nitella translucens, Ag. Syst. Alg. p. 124. 



Old Aquarium of Cork Botanic Garden ; Mr. W. H. Harvey. In 

 one of the small lakes above Kilrea, County of Derry ; Mr. D. Moore. 

 Lake near Slieve Croob ; Mr. Templeton. — This is the largest, the 

 brightest coloured, and most glossy of any of our species. Vaillant 

 and Sir J. E. Smith describe the branches as jointed ; but this appear- 

 ance Doctor Hooker thinks is wholly owing to a fold in the membrane 

 of the tube, which is sometimes transverse and sometimes oblique. 



2. C. flexilis, Linn. Flaccid Chara. Smooth, flaccid, some- 

 what glossy and pellucid, much and frequently dichotomous ; 

 branches of the whorls simple or divided, obtuse; nucules few, 

 scarcely bracteated. Br. Fl. v. 2. p. 245.— E. Bot. t. 1070. 

 E. Fl. v. i. j). 7. — Nitella flexilis, and opaca, Ag. Lyst. Alg. 

 p. 124. 



