NITELLA. 95 



2. NITELLA FLEXILIS Ag. 



Char. Stems repeatedly dichotomous, one to two feet long, 

 smooth, flaccid, somewhat glossy, and pellucid : borders of 

 the whorls compound, obtuse. Nucules and globules ap- 

 proximate, few, scarcely bracteated. 



Chara flexilis, Eng. Bot. t. 1070. ; Eng. Bot. (2d ed.) 

 t. 1468., and fig. c to I, t. 1472. ; Smith, 1. 7. ; Hook. 

 Crypt. Fl. part 1. p. 245. ; Macreight, 278. Nitella 

 flexilis Ag. Syst. 124. 



" Not unfrequent in ditches, lakes, and still waters. A 

 much weaker and more slender plant than the last, with the 

 branches of the whorls generally, but not always forked, or 

 divided into three or four segments, rarely all simple. Nucules 

 often solitary. It is never so glossy and bright in its hue 

 as N. translucens, and not uncommonly is found more or less 

 incrusted with calcareous matter, rendering the stems some- 

 what opaque : in this latter state it is N. opaca of Agardh." 

 Eng. Bot., 2d ed. 



3. NITELLA NIDIFICA Ag. 



Char. Stems simple, below smooth, flaccid, somewhat glossy, 

 and pellucid : primary whorled branches simple, elongated ; 

 fertile ones numerous, crowded, proliferous. Nucules 

 and globules separate, bracteated. 



Chara nidiflca, Eng. Bot. t. 1703., 2d ed. t. 1469. ; Smith, 

 1. 8. ; Hook. Crypt. Fl. part 1. p. 245. ; Macreight, 278. 

 Nitella nidiflca Ag. Syst. 125. 



" A native of saltwater ditches in the South and East of 

 England. The simple much elongated branches of the pri- 

 mary whorls, and the crowded and proliferous character of 

 the fertile ones, form the chief distinctions of the species, the 

 globules and nucules not being always separate. I have 

 found the globule stalked, but that occasionally occurs in N. 

 flexilis, and it is not uniformly so in the present plant. 



" It would be desirable to ascertain the effect of cultivation 

 in perfectly fresh water upon this species, as specimens of a 



