Marchaniia.] HEPATICiE. 49 



1- Marchantia. Merchant. 



Male Receptacle pedunculated, scaly beneath. Female Recep- 

 tacle with loculi 1 — 3-flowered, bivalved; capsules with calyces. 

 Calyptra bursting, at length remaining within the cahjx. 



1. M. polymorpha, March ant. Female Receptacle deeply 

 incised in a radiating manner; the segments linear ; the margins 

 of the loculi ciliated. Marchant fil. in Acta Gall. an. 1713. 

 Linn, sp.pl. 1603. Micheli Gen. t. 1,/. 1, 2, 5. Dill. Muse, t.76 

 and t. 77, f. 7. Schmidel Ic. t. 9 and t. 29. Hedw. Theor. ed. 2, 

 t. 26, 27,/. 1, 2. Eng. Bot.t. 100. Muse. Brit. ed. 2, p. 219. 

 Sprengel Syst. IV. p. 234. Lindeuberg Sgn. Hep. Europ. p. 100. 



In dry as well as wet situations ; very common, not only in Ireland 

 but in most parts of the globe. Flowering' in summer and autumn. 

 The openings of the pores on the frond are thickened or marginate. 

 There are three distinct series of scales beneath the froud, the one 

 broadly ovate or lanceolate, scariose, whitish, disposed in a pinnate 

 manner at each side of the axis ; others alternate with these, but are 

 exterior, oblong, obtuse, exceeding a little the margins of the frond ; 

 finally, others of a deep purple colour, oblong, alternate, closely imbri- 

 cated, their margins only colourless, forming a ridge over the nerve. 

 The capsules, towards maturity, appear yellow, and have been so de- 

 scribed by iMohr and Lindenberg, but the colour is that of the seeds, 

 seen through their pellucid coat. The capsule is not toothed, but 

 bursts irregularly. The seeds at length assume a dark olive colour. 

 The Scgphi are toothed, each tooth terminated by a single dark 

 cilium, which at first is introflexed, then erect, and finally falls of. At 

 the bottoms of the Scyphi, in a gelatinous substance, are imbedded 

 buds, flattish, lenticular, slightly lobed. The Male Receptacle is 

 rugged above, its margin nearly entire, or more commonly lobed ; 

 I have seen it as deeply incised as in M. chenopoda (Dill. t. 11. 

 f. 8.) At the inferior surface the convex rays are scaly, and among 

 the scales are inserted clustered simple fibres, not to be distinguished 

 from the roots below the frond. The scales are ovate, obtuse, purplish 

 at their bases, colourless at their tops. At the summits and back part 

 of the peduncles there remain adhering from ten to twelve cellulose, 

 linear processes which are the interior portions of the indusuim. Both 

 male and female receptacles, when they first appear between the termi- 

 nating lobes of the frond, are covered with indusia ; of which, how- 

 ever, contrary to what occurs in certain foreign species, scarcely a 

 trace is to be seen when the peduncles have been fully formed. Each 

 peduncle anteriorly has two grooves, in which are enclosed bundles of 

 fibres not distinguishable from the roots. From the rapid growth of 

 the peduncles we may conclude these bands of fibres existed previous 

 to their exaltation : accordingly, before this event, they are to be found 

 in a canal along the nerve below the frond. These roots probably 

 supply moisture to the receptacle, which encreases in size after its ele- 

 vation, the enclosing grooves of the peduncle preventing evaporation. 

 Such an admirable provision is found in the other Marchantiece. 



2. M. androgyna, Linn. Female Receptacle nearly entire, 

 subhemispherical, somewhat quadrangular; the margins of the 



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