41 6 VASCULAR CRYPTOGAMS. 



leaves, it as a rule dies down, but maintains a perennial existence by means of the root- 

 buds (Hofmeister). Most species are only, reckoning from the base of the stem to the 

 apex of the leaf, 5 or 6 inches high ; a few attain the height of a foot ; B. lanug'mosum of 

 the East Indies is stated by Milde to be 3 feet high; the leaf is three or four times 

 pinnate, and the stem contains from 10 to 17 fibre- vascular bundles. 



Family 2. Marattiacese^ i.ThQ Sexual Generation {Oo\)hoTe). [The spores, 

 which are of two forms, reniform and nearly spherical, germinate much in the -same 

 way as those of the Polypodiaceae. In Angiopteris the first root-hair is developed 

 at an early period, but in Marattia it does not make its appearance until some 

 time after the commencement of germination, when the prothallium is already 

 multicellular. The prothallium, like that of the true Ferns, is somewhat cordate 

 and forms a flattened expansion upon the surface of the soil, but it is more fleshy 

 and it is dark green in colour. Sometimes it grows by means of an apical cell, 

 but this is not always formed. The antheridia are developed on either the under 

 or the upper surface of the prothallium, from single superficial cells. The arche- 

 gonia are developed in the same manner as those of the Polypodiaceae, and more 

 especially on the lower surface. The antheridia are not developed until some 

 months after germination begins, and the archegonia still later.] 



2. The Asexual Generation (Sporophore) when mature resembles a Fern in 

 habit. The mode of its development is still unknown. It consists of a usually 

 erect, short, thick, tubercular stem which bears large, closely-packed, spirally ar- 

 ranged leaves, with long petioles, the lamina being usually pinnatifid, but sometimes 

 palmatifid. The resemblance to the true Ferns is rendered more striking by 

 the circinate vernation of the leaves, and by their gradual unrolling from below 

 upwards. 



The Stem of Marattia^ Angiopteris^ and Dancca recalls on the whole the mode 

 of growth of the stem of the Ophioglosseae. It grows erect, but does not attain 

 any considerable height. It is a tubercular mass, partially imbedded in the earth, 

 and it is so completely covered with leaves that no portion of its surface is freely 

 exposed. In some species it is small, but in the large Marattieae and in Angiop- 

 teris evecta it may be from one to two feet high and broad in proportion. The 

 stem of Kaulfussia assamica is a subterranean, creeping, bilateral rhizome, according 

 to de Vriese, which bears leaves upon its upper and roots upon its under surface. 

 It appears that the stem of the Marattiaceae (except, according to Holle, in the 

 case of DancBa irifoliatd) never branches. The lower older portion of the stem 

 is covered by the basal parts of the older petioles, bearing the stipules, from which 

 the upper parts of the petioles, which at this point are provided with a large articular 

 swelling, have become detached, leaving a smooth cicatrix encircled by the stipule 

 (Fig. 291, w). At the upper part of the stem, the still living leaves form a large 

 rosette, in the centre of which lies a bud consisting of numerous young leaves of 



^ De Vriese et Halting, Monog. des Maratt. Leide et Dusseldorf. 1853. — Liirssen, Mittheilg. 

 aus dem Gesammtgehiet der Bot,, Bd. I. Heft. 3. 1872; id. Bot. Zeit. 1872, p. 768, and 1873, p. 

 625. — Russow, Vergl, Unters. 1872, p. 105. Some information derived from drawings and letters 

 communicated by Prof Tschisliakoff has been embodied in the text. [Holle, Die Vegetationsorgane 

 der Marattiaceen, Bot. Zeit. 1876. Jonkman, Entwickelung des Prothalliums der Marattiaceen, Bot. 

 Zeit. 1878.] 



