393 
11. LYCOI’ODIACE.E. 
[Psilotum. 
Order III. MARSILEACEiE. 
Creeping or floating, marsh or water plants. Stems with very slender 
vascular bundles, like those of Lycopodiacece . — Y ernation circinate. Capsules 
of two kinds, one containing a single spore, the other many minute spores, 
enclosed in a receptacle (or common capsule) with valvular dehiscence ; in 
some both kinds of capsule are enclosed in a common involucre, in others 
each kind is in a separate involucre. Of these spores the larger, which are 
solitary, reproduce the plant ; the smaller, which are very numerous, contain 
cells with ciliated filaments. 
The reproductive process in Marsileacea is analogous to that of ferns in many respects. 
The receptacles burst, and both kinds of spores are emitted ; the larger developes a prothal- 
Jium at its top, which terminates in one perforated conical papilla (archegonium), the perfo- 
ration leading down to a cell in the body of the prothallium. This cell gives origin to the 
new plant; the small capsules (antheridia) emit cells containing each a spiral thread endowed 
with motion (spermatozoa), of which one, no doubt, enters the perforation of the papilla and 
fertilizes the cell at its base. Only one genus, Azo/la, has been hitherto found in New 
Zealand ; but as 2 others are common in Australia, these may be mentioned here, viz. Pi- 
lularia, which has creeping stems, subulate leaves, and globose involucres at the base of 
the leaves ; and Marsilea, w ith a creeping stem, 4-foliolate leaves, and leaflets like Clover. 
The latter is the Nardoo of Australia, upon the starch contained in the capsules of which, 
Burke aud his companion-explorers subsisted iu the desert for some time. 
1. AZOLLA, Linn. 
Plant floating, forming small red patches, consisting of pinnate fronds co- 
vered with minute imbricating leaves. Roots of solitary simple threads. — Stem 
consisting of a central cellular axis with a few spiral threads, surrounded by 
a circle of air-cells. Receptacles very minute, pendulous from the under sur- 
face of the branches; the larger sort female, ovoid, bursting irregularly, full 
of spherical stalked capsules, each containing a few globular spores; smaller 
sort bursting transversely, containing rounded antheridia ? peltately borne on 
the sides of a central erect column. 
A genus of few species found in the warmer temperate and tropical zones, as far north 
as the United States ; the following is the only oue that inhabits cold countries. I have 
never examined the fructification, the generic description of which is taken from A. Gray’s 
‘ Manual of the Botany of the North United States.’ 
1. A. rubra, Br. ; — FI. N. Z. ii. 56. Prond red, ovate orbicular or 
somewhat triangular, 1-2 in. diam., pinnate; branches close-set, almost im- 
bricating, somewhat palmate. Leaves densely imbricate, ovate, entire, obtuse, 
2 -U in. long, smooth on the upper surface. Roots longitudinally plumose 
beyond the middle. 
Northern Islaud : pools on the east coast and interior, Colenso. Middle Island : ap- 
parently common. Also found in Tasmania, Australia, and South America, aud perhaps not 
specifically different from an African and North American plant. 
