74 Bastow, Victurian Hcpaticcc. [vur'xxxi 



VICTORIAN HEPATIC^. 



By R. a. Bastow. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 13/// July, 191 4.) 



I DO not think tliat there has been any paper for ehicidating 

 the study of the Hei)aticce of Victoria either in the Proceedings 

 of the Royal Society or in the Victorian Naturalist ; therefore 

 1 have very sUght hesitation in bringing forward the accom- 

 panying key to genera of that beautiful and interesting natural 

 order of cryptogamic plants. The literature on Hepatica; is 

 neither voluminous nor is it very accessible ; we have, con- 

 sequently, to depend on British and Continental writers for 

 our information. Hooker's " Flora Tasmanica," " Flora 

 Novse-Zealandiai," and " Flora Antarctica," with " Muscologia 

 Exotica " and Cook's " British Hepaticce," with latterly Engler 

 and Prantl's beautifully illustrated and magnificent work — 

 these are simply indispensable to pursue the study of Hepaticae 

 with any success. Fortunately, the above-mentioned books 

 can now be consulted in our Public Library or in the library 

 of the National Herbarium, South Yarra. 



Nearly thirty years ago I resided in Hobart, and had free 

 access to the Royal Society's library there and to Mount 

 Wellington and its spurs. Whilst in Hobart I submitted a 

 paper to the Tasmanian Royal Society for the year 1887. This 

 was printed in their " Proceedings," with forty-three plates, 

 and containing the descriptions of all the then known Hepatictne, 

 each genus being illustrated. I do not know of any other than 

 the before-mentioned works, to which I refer the student for 

 more extended information than the limits of the Field 

 Naturalists' proceedings will allow on that subject. 



The question has often been i)ut to me. What is a hepatic 

 or liverwort ? When we are in the gullies it is very easy to 

 reply to that question. Take a handful of Lepidozia ulothryx 

 and submit it to the inquirer, and his exclamation will l)e, 

 " How soft it is, and how spongy ! " They are water-loving 

 plants ; by the edge of the creek and around the scattered 

 rocks in the stream they flourish and reach perfection. They 

 were formerly known as Jungermannia), named in honour of 

 Louis Jungermann, a (ierman botanist : but in later years they 

 have all been known under the one common name, Hepaticie. 



The texture of the Hepatica- is soft and with lax areolation. 

 The leaves of the plants, unlike the mosses, have no nerves. 

 Some hardy sj)ecies favour the summits of the highest moun- 

 tains, and, with their faces to the south, they meet the storm 

 and revel in it. Some are six inches high, and some are small 

 and capillary and almost indistinguishable on the fallen tree- 

 ferns. The forms of the leaves are exquisite : they are often 



