

MARSH 



71 



OftOBB XXII. MARSIL1 .A ''!■: \. !' R 



: [gat lhApl II' 

 Uydroptei 



'i i s i di ( 1 824 ' ' 



542 12] i- i 



; .,. | „. xxxiil. i liurll. Urd. 1(5. i 



lin.i . •■ ■ Journ., vol. v. 



Diagnosis.— i • ;t!l many-celled i 



tin of two different kind*. 



St.inl — . plants, creeping, or Boating; leaves usuall) I, sometin 



scaly, occasionall) destitute of lamina, and rolled up in vernation. I 



end isi 1 in involucres, and of two kinds : tit , cluster) '1 and Bti 



l!\ without Btalks, and distinct from the Becond, or mixed with it, or in 

 with it; theother, simple oval bodies, sometimes having a terminal nipple, from which 

 ruination uniformly proceeds. [Stem and lea filled with longitudinal cells. \ 



ral simple fascicle of vessels 1 of Bcalariform ducts and pi 



enclosing in the middle a quantity gated cells containing starch. 1 »itL 



nervi and Btom '-■>■.] 



The Order to which Pilularia and Marsilea belong j 



consists of Boating or creeping plants, often having the 

 circulate vernation of Ferns, with their reproductive organs 

 in dose caa s, called involucres, springing either from the 



. or from the petioles of the leavi s. These invoh 

 contain oval bodies of two kinds, one of which ! 

 called anther, and the other capsule. 1 tgun b of Marsilea 

 vestita and polycarpa have been published bj Hooker and 

 Grevilli . at t. 159 and 160 of th ir aoble / i um. 



From ad the more detailed observations of ] 



Fabre, it is clear that 1 1 1« - involucre of that genus consists 

 of an involute leaf analogous to the carpellary leaf of 

 flowering plants. 



Esprit Fabre ha i alsoshown, i 

 9. 115 u,, ■ "I 12. 255,) that on thi a mucila- 



ginous •• ird, which 1 regard with Braun as a midrib, pro- 

 ng from the involucre when it opens, th 

 oblong | "in 5 two bodies pack* <1 c • 



Bometunes intermixed, but sometimes sepan tliat 



each occupies a differ* nt si.l.- of the plat* b i which are leaf- 

 lets). He regards these t«" Borta ol bodies as aut 

 and ovules, and says, thai their mutual position is such, 

 that tl"- Bide which bears the ovules is al".\<' that which 

 bears tl e anthers. The •• ovules" are from In t>> l"i on 

 each side, whitish, Bemitransparent, ovoid, obtuse at one 

 end, and terminated at the other by a nipple. Th ' 



thers " are little flattened parallelopi- 



pedons, rounded at each end. "They 



consist of a membranous 



thin and transparent, in which you see 



numerous pollen grains. The latter are 



^j.li eUiptical, often pointed 



<m one m<1>-. W hen you crush thei i 



I teath the microscope, Bpennatic Ol . o 



jXranuU ■■•• of lAiiviui' smallm -- an- v^Sfc 



i to come out." • rerminati of 

 i. •- takes place, 

 t.i the same observi r, from the 

 nipple at the point He thinks, that 

 tlic two sorts of bodies an 

 anthers and ovuli -. 

 left apart in water thej 

 together in water, he has seen the Bides of the "antl 



Fu. XI.IX. — 1. Growing plant of Marsilea pul 

 i leaf whose lateral leaflets areli aded with - 

 which the sporiferous leaf is disengaging its I pb regards s 



. 



-r.. 



