EVANS I HEPATIC^ COLLECTED IN SOUTHERN PATAGONIA. 57 



Gymnanthe anderssonii Angstr. 1. c. 33, Haft 4: 50. 1876. 



Dioicous : growing in loose tufts or mixed with other hepaticae, pale or 

 whitish-green : plants consisting of a prostrate caudex giving rise to as- 

 cending or erect stems : caudex radiculose, usually bearing scattered rudi- 

 mentary leaves : stems without rhizoids or with a few scattered ones close 

 to the caudex, simple or sparingly branched, sometimes giving off radicu- 

 lose stolons from the lower part; stem-leaves distant and rudimentary 

 below, more or less imbricated and larger above, obliquely inserted, some- 

 what concave, obovate-orbicular from a narrowed base, antical margin de- 

 current, straight or slightly curved, entire, postical margin reaching nearly 

 to middle of stem, slightly or not at all decurrent, entire, sinuate, or with 

 a few scattered teeth, apex broad and variable, sometimes distinctly emar- 

 ginate-bilobed, with acute, obtuse or rounded lobes, sometimes truncate, 

 entire or sparingly and irregularly dentate with blunt teeth ; underleaves 

 wanting ; leaf-cells thin-walled with small but distinct trigones, somewhat 

 elongated toward base, cuticle smooth : ? inflorescence terminal on short 

 ascending stems or elongated branches ; bracts crowded, similar to the 

 leaves, but even more irregular in shape, sometimes unequally 2-lobed, 

 the innermost narrower and more delicate than the others and sometimes 

 more conspicuously toothed, sac tapering to a blunt point, radiculose : j 1 

 inflorescence borne in the course of ascending stems, bracts in about five 

 pairs, imbricated, strongly saccate below, but with spreading apices above, 

 broadly orbicular when explanate, truncate or emarginate-bifid, the post- 

 ical lobe being the larger. 



Stems 1.5-3 cm - l n g> -35 mm - m diameter; leaves 1.7 mm. long, 1.85 

 mm. broad; leaf-cells at base 58 yu, long, 29 /JL broad, in other parts of the 

 leaf 29 fji in diameter; outer perichsetial bracts 1.9 mm. long and broad, 

 sac 2.7 mm. long, i mm. in diameter; perigonial bracts i mm. long, 1.45 

 mm. wide. The foregoing measurements may be considered representa- 

 tive of this very variable species. 



Lapataia. 



In its pale color and in the shape and areolation of its leaves, the pres- 

 ent plant strongly resembles Marsupidium urvilleanum, which is a more 

 robust species with its leaves more strongly dentate and inflexed on their 

 antical margins. As far as can be judged from descriptions, the two spe- 

 cies differ from each other in the position of the ? inflorescence and pen- 

 dant sac, necessitating their separation into distinct genera. In Marsupi- 



