11. MORPHOLOGICAL NOTES ON THE GENUS 



No other liverwort has been so much discussed and described 

 as Marchantia polymorpha. According to Lindbergh it attracted 

 the attention of naturahsts at a very early date and was known 

 to both Aristotle and Theophrastus. Within more recent times 

 it has repeatedly been the subject of morphological researches 

 and has served in numerous text books as a typical representa- 

 tive of the thallose Hepaticae. Over eighty years ago MirbeP 

 published the first extensive account of its morphology. He 

 brought out the essential features of the thallus and of its various 

 tissues and gave a clear description of the receptacles and the 

 gemmae. Of the later works dealing with the morphology of 

 the species those by Leitgeb," Kny/ Ikeno,^ and Durand" may be 

 particularly mentioned. The first two deal with the plant in a 

 general way, very much as Mirbel's memoir did, although they 

 include many original observations. The last two are much more 

 specialized and deal with the cytolog}^ and development of the 

 reproductive organs. Altliough M. polymorpha itself has been 

 treated so exhaustively the other species of the genus have 

 been but little studied by morphologists. In one of his earlier 

 papers Schiffner'^ published a series of interesting observations 

 on the Javan M. geminata R. Bl. & N. ; but aside from this, 



' Hepat. Utveckling 15. Helsingfors, 1877. 



" Recherches anatomiques et physiologiques sur le Marchantia poly- 

 morpha. Mus. Hist. Nat. Nouv. Ann. 1:92-130. pi. 5-7. 1832. For a 

 reprint of this paper, with a few slight alterations, and a Complement 

 des observations sur le Marchantia polymorpha, see Mem. Acad. Sci. 

 13 '■ 337-436. pi. 1-8. 1835. For a translation into German by Von Flotow, 

 see Nees von Esenbeck, Naturg. Europ. Leberm. 4 :445-494. Breslau, 1838. 



^Unters. iiber Leberm. 6: 1 14-123. pi. p. Graz, 1881. 



*Bau und Entwickelung von Marchantia polymorpha L. Bot. Wand- 

 tafeln 364-401. pi. 84-90. Berlin, 1890. 



^ Beitrage zur Kenntnis der pflanzlichen Spermatogenese : Die Sper- 

 matogenese von Marchantia polymorpha. Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 15 : 65-88. 

 pi. 3 + f- I- 1903- 



° The development of the sexual organs and sporogonium of Marchan- 

 tia polymorpha. Bull. Torrey Club 35 : 321-335. pi. 21-25. 1908. 



'' Ueber exotische Hepaticae. Anhang I. Morphologische Bemerkungen 

 iiber Marchantia. Nova Acta Acad. Leop. -Carol. 60 : 279-284. pi. ig. 1893. 



