10 TTiE .rorRXAr, of botaxv / 



HEPATICS IN WEST CORNWALL. 

 Bv W. E. Nicholson. 



It is often tlie best-worked localities which continue to produce 

 the giviitest number of novelties. The apparent inexhaustibility of 

 lien Lawei-s is an instiince of this. It should therefore scarcely be 

 a matter of surprise that the rich district of West Cornwall should 

 4ilso continue to produce novelties ; and some of the hepatics which 

 1 i^athered at the Lizard and Carbis Bay, where I spent a few da3^s 

 at tlie end of March and beginning of April last, may be worthy of 

 record. 



Ji'iccta 1J'nr)isfo>'/ii Limpr. Not uncommon on the cliffs near 

 tlie sea, Housel liay, the Lizard, in company with li. Lescuriana 

 Aust. and li. sorocarpa Bisch. Nearly all the plants are more or 

 less ciliate. and I am tempted to think that the plant wdiich has 

 l)een recorded fi'om this district as R. ciliata Hoffm. may really 

 belong to li. II arnstorjii. 



R. uifjrt'Ua DC. Sparingly on the cliffs at Housel Bay, often in 

 a sliglitly drier habitiit than the other vspecies. 



Fosaombronia Crozalsii Corbiere (Rev. Bry. 1903, p. 13). In 

 rather large ])atches in moist places on the cliffs at Housel Bay ; 

 ofti'n growing with liiccia Lescuriana Aust. Mr, Macvicar and 

 M. Douin confirm the identitication of this plant, which is new 

 to Britain. It is described by M. Corbiere {loc, cit.) as follows: 

 *' N'egetative charactei-s and habit of F. ccesj^iiifo-rmis De Not. Spores 

 very distinct, subglobular, 38-40 \i in diameter, intermediate in 

 dimensions ])etween tho.se of F. aurjidosa (Dicks.) Raddi and F". Dii- 

 nioriirri (Hiib. A: (Jenth.) Lindb., and similarly retieulate-areolate, 

 areola' subhexagonal, as in the two last-mentioned species, but much 

 smaller and more nmue-rou.s, surrounded by a fairly high membrane, 

 which makes the contour of the spores appear spinulose; elaters with 

 2-3 spii-als, generally 2," 



The plant from Housel liay agrees with this description, except 

 that the spores are generally larger, averaging 45 to 50 /i, and, 

 allhougli many of them are distinctly areolate, they recall those 

 of F. llasuoii <\)i-biere r.ither than those of F. angnloaa or F. Du- 

 martltri, and M. Corbiere's figure -of the spore which accompanies 

 liis descri])tion su})ports this view. In sculpture most of the spores 

 ■of the Hou.sel liay i)lant agree verv well with JM. Corbiere's figure, 

 but th«'y are rather variable; a few have the -surface covered with 

 numerous latlier blunt and irregidarly distributed pai)illiB, recalling 

 tl.ose of F. Mittcnii Tindall, wliile others, as ix)inted out to me by 

 >L Douin, have .somewhat the sculpture of those of F. pusilla (L.) 

 Dum. /'". Crozalsii clearly belongs to the grouj) of F. ca-sjiHi- 

 /'i.rmis, with which it agrees in the vegetative ))lant. It is closely 

 allied in sjiore scidptm-e to F. llasnoh', but it is essentially dis- 

 tinguished from this by the strong violet colouring of the rhizoids, 

 whiejj are brownish or hyaline in F. llvsuoti. I also find that 

 ■uiu-n the material dries off' at the end of the growing-season the 

 >tcm (.f F. llu!<noti forms very definite tuliercles verticallv thrust 



