4i6 
VASCULAR CRYPTOGAMS. 
leaves, it as a rule dies down, but maintains a perennial existence by means of the root- 
buds (Hofmeister). Most species are only, reckoning from the base of the stem to the 
apex of the leaf, 5 or 6 inches high ; a few attain the height of a foot ; B. lanuginosum of 
the East Indies is stated by Milde to be 3 feet high; the leaf is three or four times 
pinnate, and the stem contains from 10 to 17 fibro-vascular bundles. 
Family 2. Marattiaceae \ i. The Sexual Generation (Oophore). [The spores, 
which are of two forms, reniform and nearly spherical, germinate much in the same 
way as those of the Polypodiaceae. In Attgiopten's the first root-hair is developed 
at an early period, but in Marattia it does not make its appearance until some 
time after the commencement of germination, when the prothallium is already 
multicellular. The prothallium, like that of the true Ferns, is somewhat cordate 
and forms a flattened expansion upon the surface of the soil, but it is more fleshy 
and it is dark green in colour. Sometimes it grows by means of an apical cell, 
but this is not always formed. The antheridia are developed on either the under 
or the upper surface of the prothallium, from single superficial cells. The arche- 
gonia are developed in the same manner as those of the Polypodiacese, and more 
especially on the lower surface. The antheridia are not developed until some 
months after germination begins, and the archegonia still later.] 
2. The Asexual Generation (Sporophore) when. mature resembles a Fern in 
habit. The mode of its development is still unknown. It consists of a usually 
erect, short, thick, tubercular stem which bears large, closely-packed, spirally ar- 
ranged leaves, with long petioles, the lamina being usually pinnatifid, but sometimes 
palmatifid. The resemblance to the true Ferns is rendered more striking by 
the circinate vernation of the leaves, and by their gradual unrolling from below 
upwards. 
The Stem of Marattia, Angiopteris, and Dancca recalls on the whole the mode 
of growth of the stem of the Ophioglosseae. It grows erect, but does not attain 
any considerable height. It is a tubercular mass, partially imbedded in the earth, 
and it is so completely covered with leaves that no portion of its surface is freely 
exposed. In some species it is small, but in the large Marattieae and in Angiop- 
ieris evecta it may be from one to two feet high and broad in proportion. The 
stem of Kaulfussia assamica is a subterranean, creeping, bilateral rhizome, according 
to de Vriese, which bears leaves upon its upper and roots upon its under surface. 
It appears that the stem of the Marattiaceae (except, according to Holle, in the 
case of Dancea trifoliatd) never branches. The lower older portion of the stem 
is covered by the basal parts of the older petioles, bearing the stipules, from which 
the upper parts of the petioles, which at this point are provided with a large articular 
swelling, have become detached, leaving a smooth cicatrix encircled by the stipule 
(Fig. 291, At the upper part of the stem, the stiU living leaves form a large 
rosette, in the centre of which hes a bud consisting of numerous young leaves of 
^ De Vriese et Harting, Monog. des Maratt. Leide et Düsseldorf. 1853, — Lürssen, Mittheilg. 
aus dem Gesammtgebiet der Bot., Bd. I. Heft. 3. 1872 ; id. Bot. Zeit. 1872, p. 768, and 1873, p. 
625.^ Russow, Vergl. Unters. 1872, p. 105. Some information derived from dravi'ings and letters 
communicated by Prof Tschistiakoff has been embodied in the text. [Holle, Die Vegetationsorgane 
der Marattiaceen, Bot. Zeit. 1876. Jonkman, Entwickelung des Prothalliums der Marattiaceen, Bot. 
Zeit. 1878.] 
