﻿76 Allen: Contributions to Japanese Characeae 



similar habit of growth associates it Formerly, owing to the very 

 unequal and extremely abbreviated terminals, I referred it to the 

 brachydactylae section with which it seems ill-assorted. 



N. orientalis and N. expama are similar to N. gracilis in habit of 

 growth, but the oogonia are clustered and the oospores differ. The 

 divisions of the leaf and the character of the terminals also separate 

 these two species. The tendency to abbreviated terminals and to 

 more than three leaf-nodes in N. orientalis noints to a sort of tran- 



sition to the species of the brachydactylae series (which abound in 

 Japan). 



NlTELLA EXPANSA Sp. nOV. 



Plants 10-12 cm. high, diffusely branched, " bushy ;" leaves 

 spreading, diffuse, stem 450 in diam ; verticils approximate, of 

 5 or 6 leaves ; leaves spreading, often longer than the internodes, 

 3 (rarely 4) times divided ; the first segment less than half the 

 length of the entire leaf, 200-265 in diam ; the first node, with 

 5 or 6 divisions, usually sterile; the second segment 160-170 in 

 diam ; the second node, with three divisions, fertile ; the third 

 segment 145-1 5 5 in diameter ; the third node, with 2 or 3 divisions, 

 fertile; the fourth segment, 100-120 in diam., usually termi- 

 nal. 1 he mucro, 34 in diam., 80-100 long ; the terminals are 

 unequal, 1-3, often very short ; the oogonia are usually isola- 

 ted but often aggregated on the second and third nodes, not seen 

 en the first node, but often found in the verticil, on the stem. The 

 antnendia about 200 in diameter; the oospore 245 to 250 long by 

 204 to 220 broad, with five or six sharp ridges, at second and third 

 nodes, the surface quite smooth. 



N. 



the leaf also bears four divisions and is sterile. It is similar to N. 

 orientalis ,n the unequal terminals, one of which is often very short, 

 but the second node of this species is 3-times divided and the 



N. 



Kyoto, J 



C.-DESGRIPTION OF A NEW JAPANESE NlTELLA ALLIEO TO OUR AMERICAN SPECIES, 



N. TRANSILIS ALLEN, AND N. TENUISSIMA DESV. 



NlTELLA GRACILLIMA Sp. nOV. 



faJ^°5jS deliC !, te; 6 t0 8 Cm ' hi ^ branched, but not dif- 

 l^ntnno ^ and leaVeS mostl y rather erect, not spreading; 



what erect I J ^ "• "F* C ° nsist of 6 leaves J ^aves some- 

 what erect, not diverging from the stem, not auite eoual to the 



