HANDBOOK OF BRITISH HEPATIC^. 163 



hepatics, or forming dense fasciculate patches of a 

 dark green colour. Stems about as 

 thick as horse-hair, purplish black, 

 rigid, polished, but flexuous ; shoots 

 ^ to i inch, rarely 2 inches, long ; 

 branches alternate, divaricate, of 

 nearly uniform size. Leaves dis- 

 tant, alternate, distichous, obovate, 

 or wedge-shaped, contracted and 

 scarcely decurrent at the base (fig. 116), bidentate 

 at the apex, terminal leaves 

 only are erect, dark olive or 

 indigo-green, blackish when 

 dry. Amphigastria gener- 

 ally present, minute, distant, 

 bidentate. Andraecium spi- 

 cate, ovate. Perigonial leaves \H/ 

 three to six pairs, larger than \ VH 



those of the stem, closely f\ \ ) 

 imbricate, with many teeth. \ \ | / 

 Antheridia one or two, pale <^~ \J 

 olive yellow. Cells larger >^ \1 

 than in Plagiochila spinulosa ^^\ 

 (fig. us). ^ 



" This appears to be a \ 



very distinct species. The 

 shoots are flagelliform, II<5 - 



nearly equal throughout, stems black and rigid, 

 leaves distant, patent, wedge-shaped, from a 

 narrow basis, easily detached, usually bidentate 

 at the apex, with an obtuse sinus." 



Plagioehila exigua, Tayl 

 Stem filiform, serpentine, leaves vertical, 



M a 



