158 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH HEPATIC^E. 



compressed, subcircinate i inch long, two 

 or three times innovant-furcate ; leaves 

 secund, roundish, ciliate-dentate, closely im- 

 bricate, erect ; dorsal margin straight, 

 strongly recurved, ventral projecting back- 

 ward, so as to form a crest with the opposite 

 leaves; perianth short, oblong, scarcely ex- 

 ceeding the involucral leaves, and like them 

 densely ciliate at the apex. 



The typical form occurs straggling amongst 

 moss or forming dense tufts (fig. in). Primary 

 shoots creeping, leafless, entangled. Secondary less 

 rigid, paler brown, ascending, simple or dichotomous, 

 innovant in older plants. Leaves bifariously im- 

 bricated, alternate, horizontally patent, roundish, 

 obovate, or trapezoid, with a broad rounded or 

 truncate apex, dorsal margin decurrent, entire, 

 reflexed, ventral rounded,dentate, or ciliate, superior 

 aspect decidedly convex (fig. 112). Texture thin 

 and semi-pellucid. Amphigastria general but 

 distant and irregular, minute, subulate, bifid. 

 Inflorescence normally dioicous, sometimes auto- 

 icous or with male and fertile shoots springing from 

 the same stolon. Involucral leaves slightly larger 

 than those of the stem. Perianth laterally com 

 pressed, from a narrow base, curved to one side. 

 Calyptra pear-shaped. Capsule ovate, purplish- 

 brown, lustrous. Spores spherical. Perigonial 

 leaves six to eight pairs, closely imbricate in 

 two rows. Antheridia in clusters of two to four, 

 greyish-green. 



