HANDBOOK OF BRITISH HEPATIC*. 



273 



Fegatclla hemispherica, Tayl. Linn. Trans. 

 XVII., p. 383, t. 12, f. 4. Reboulia hemi- 

 spherica, Raddi. Opus. Sci. Bot. II., 357. 

 Marchantia hemispherica, Eng. Bot. t. 503. 



Sides of mountain streams and moist banks. (Fr. 

 April.) (Fig. 190.) 



Fronds 1 to 2 inches, dichotomous and variously 

 lobed and sinuate, spreading and creeping by 

 means of numerous slender 

 radicles descending from 

 the prominent midrib, mar- 

 gins elevated, upper surface 

 granulated, of a fine green 

 colour, often purple when 

 exposed to the sun, especi- 

 ally about the margin, and 

 the underside is generally 

 of a dark purple hue. 

 Female receptacles at first 

 roundish, then hemispherical, barbate beneath, 

 divided into from four to six laciniae at the margin, 

 standing on short peduncles, which are totally 

 destitute of any bracts or membranes at their base 

 (fig. 190). Cells of the receptacle rarely seven, 

 eight, or nine, with a vertical opening, bivalved, 

 margins involute. Perianth none. Capsules for 

 the most part solitary, never emergent, but sessile 

 in the cells. Male receptacles purple brown, 

 roundish, marginate, plane above, sessile, immersed 

 in the frond. 



Sometimes confounded with Preissia commutata* 

 but easily distinguished by the absence of the four- 

 lobed cruciate crest. 



190. 



