226 HEPATIC^. CHAP. IH. 



to the Constitution of a flower, and producing per- 

 fect seeds ; a theory that seems at least to be 

 founded in fact, and that has obtained the almost 

 universal approbation of all succeeding botanists. 



CHAPTER III. 



HEPATIC^E. 



Descrip- THE Hepaticae are a tribe of small and herbaceous 

 habitats, plants resembling the Mosses, but chiefly consti- 

 tuting -fronds, and producing their fruit in a cap- 

 sule that splits into longitudinal valves. The name 

 is derived from a Greek word signifying the liver, 

 because perhaps some of them were formerly em- 

 ployed as a remedy in diseases of the liver ; or 

 because some of them exhibit, in their general 

 aspect, a slight resemblance to the lobes of the 

 liver. In their habitats they affect for the most 

 part the same sort of situations as the Mosses, 

 being found chiefly in wet and shady spots, by the 

 sides of springs and ditches, or on the shelving 

 brinks of rivulets., or on the trunks of trees. Like 

 the Mosses they thrive best also in cold and damp 

 weather, and recover their verdure, though dried, 

 if moistened again with water. The Hepaticae and 

 the Mosses are indeed so nearly allied, that they 

 have generally been regarded as constituting but 

 one family, and classed together accordingly ; the 



