P L A G 1 C H ASM A . 



335 



Flores famnneae in capite frondis simili structura, longe 

 stipitata sita. Caput subhaemesphaericum supra stouiatosuin, 

 radicellae emittuntur, which run down a solitary central groove 

 in the peduncle, which has no stomata. Invulucra bivalvia, 

 vel potius unico dehiscente, celluloso-raembranacea. 



Capsula sessilis, tela ad apicem reduct., apice magna im- 

 mersa viridescente globosa, vix \ exserta, atro-brunnea, cellulis 

 fibrosis nullis, circumscissa, exacte Sporula tunica cellulosa 

 nuclei brunnei. 



Elateres brunneae, thick and stiff scarcely elastic, fibrae di- 

 spires, terminantes. The spires not seen. 



In statu juniori flos. freminea sessilis in sinu loborum, et 

 squamis angustis obsit. These scales remain at the foot of the 

 peduncle : the head having neither scales nor giving out ex- 

 ternally roots: in the want of scales it is the reverse of the 

 former species. 



The central tissue also has the power of producing lateral 

 female flowers, a curious circumstance : these consist of a 

 short squamate axis, rooting along its centre underneath, and 

 dilated towards its apex into a small frond, similar in structure 

 to the parent one. 



The under cuticle is as distinct as the upper, and in perfect 

 fronds is of a black purple metallic lustre ; along the margin, 

 and from within for about £ of the width of the frond it ia 

 entire, projecting beyond the upper cutis, within, it is disrup- 

 ted into scales of very oblique attachment, these scales being 

 formed by the roots, and by their invariably tending to coa- 

 lesce with those of the (only naked one of the cuticulated 

 species) vein or middle line of the central tissue. 



The want of fibres of the cells of the endotheca is no proof 

 against the elaters not being a mere form of them, in a dis- 

 tinct state, and with this view it is requisite to examine how 

 many layers the theca presents under the two circumstances 

 alluded to. What is the cause of the variation in the struc- 

 ture of the peduncle ?. 



In this it consists of a single layer, the circumscission 



