THE GENUS RICCARDIA IN CHILE 

 Alexander W. Evans 



I. INTRODUCTION 



The genus Riccardia, often known as Aneiira, is well repre- 

 sented in Chile, especially along the moist western coast south of 

 Valdivia and in the adjacent Magellan Territory, formerly a part 

 of Patagonia. As long ago as 1844 Hooker and Taylor (14, p. 

 479) listed four species from the region, all having been collected 

 by Hooker on Hermite Island, close to Cape Horn. Two of these 

 species were described as new, under the names Jungermannia 

 alcicornis and /. prchensilis, and have been accepted without 

 question by subsequent writers on the Hepaticae. The other two 

 species, both listed under Jungermannia, were R. multifida (L.) 

 S. F. Gray and R. pinguis (L.) S. F. Gray, originally based on 

 European material but now known to be widely distributed, 

 especially in northern regions. Although later writers have again 

 reported these two species from Chile, it is doubtful if either is 

 actually a member of the flora. Three years later /. alcicornis 

 and /. prehensilis were redescribed and figured in the Flora 

 Antarctica (34, p. 445, pi. 160, f..8, 9). 



Meanwhile, in 1845, Montague (17, p. 214) had listed the 

 West Indian "Metzgeria fiicoides," which is really a species of 

 Riccardia, from the Straits of Magellan; and, in 1846, the 

 authors of the Synopsis Hepaticarum (13, pp. 495 and 505) had 

 recorded Ancura pinguis from Chile and had described a var. 

 chilensis of "Metsgcria eriocaida," likewise a species of Riccardia. 

 The typical form of this species grows in New Zealand, but the 

 variety was based on a Chilean specimen in the Montagne Her- 

 barium, collected by C. Gay. "Mctageria fncoidcs" has not 

 again been reported from Chile and it is doubtful if it occurs there. 

 The var. chilensis, however, again appears in a work by Montagne 

 published in 1850 (18, p. 298), and another species of Riccardia is 

 there reported from Concepcion under the name "Mctzgeria 

 Poeppigiana" (p. 299). This last species was originally described 

 by Lehmann and Lindenberg from Peru and St. Vincent, under 



