Daltoniaf] 
IV. MUSCI. 
497 
Northern Island : 'Wellington, Stephenson. Lord Auckland’s group : on twigs of 
bushes, etc., J. D. H. Much resembling the British D. sp/achnoides, in which the nerve 
ceases below the apex of the leaf. 
Order V. HEPATIC.ZE. 
( Including Jijngermannie.e and Marchantieje.) 
Small plants, rarely more than 1-2 in. high, loosely cellular, without woody 
fibres or vascular tissue. Fronds either furnished with stem and leaves, or 
forming flat, more or less divided foliaceous expansions. Leaves usually disti- 
chous, sometimes tristichous, those on one surface being smaller (stipules). 
Reproductive organs of three kinds : capsules containing minute spores, pro- 
duced (as in Musci) from archegonia ; antheridia, which are minute mem- 
branous sacs, by means of whose contents the archegonia are fertilized, and 
yemmce. 1. Capsule lateral or terminal, either sunk in the frond or more 
often raised on a while cellular stalk ; sometimes hidden in cavities of a 
stalked green receptacle, usually bursting into 4 valves placed crosswise, and 
containing microscopic spores mixed with spiral fibres. At an early stage the 
capsule is covered with a calyptra, which is tipped with a brown styliform 
process and sheathed at the base by a tubular or flattened perianth, which 
again is usually surrounded by altered leaves which form the involucre. 
2. Antheridia oblong or globose, membranous sacs, as in Musci. 3. Gemmae 
or cellular buds, found chiefly in the frondose division (Marchantie.®), 
in variously-shaped receptacles on the surface of the frond- 
A large Order of plants, found in all parts of the world, but most abundant in the humid, 
warm, and temperate climates. 
The Hepatica may be divided into two primary groups, one of them foliaceous , ■which are 
supplied with distinct leaves, and the other frondose, in which the green axis is continuous 
and simple, or forked or lobed at the edge ; two New Zealand genera, Noteroc/ada and 
Fossombronia, are intermediate between these groups, and may be regarded either as frou- 
dose, with the frond pinnatifid to the midrib, or as foliaceous, with the leaves united more 
or less at the base. 
To understand the structure of a foliaceous Sepatica, search any copse or forest for 
greeu or brown moss-like plants, bearing slender white cellular fruitstalks surmounted by 4 
little brown radiating arms (valves) placed cross-wise. These differ conspicuously from all 
mosses in the white cellular fruitstalk, and capsule divided into the above 4 radiating valves ; 
they further differ from most mosses in the leaves being invariably 2-ranked or sometimes 
3-ranked, the third rank being different in form and called stipules ; also, unlike so many 
mosses, they rarely grow upright, and the rootlets all descend from one side only of the stem 
and branches. Now let the specimen be held up with the side from which the roots descend 
away from the observer ; this surface is called the ventral, that towards the observer the 
dorsal. The third rank of leaves (stipules), if present, is invariably dorsal, and the rootlets 
often grow from the base of the stipules. Next observe the direction in which the leaves 
are set in the stem ; they are rarely horizontally set on, usually obliquely. If the obliquity 
is such that the lower margin is next the observer (dorsal), the insertion of the leaves is 
called succubous, in this case (still looking at the dorsal side of the stem) each leaf overlaps 
the one below it, or would do so if they were close together. If, on the other baud, the 
upper margin is next the observer (dorsal), the insertion is called incubous, and in this case 
each leaf overlaps the one above it. This must be clearly understood, for no genus has 
both incubous and succubous leaves. In some genera one margin of the leaf, always the 
ventral, unites with the stipule ; if the genus is succubous, the union is between the leaf and 
the stipule above it ( Lepidozia ) ; if incubous, between the leaf and the stipule below it 
( Mastiff obryum ) . 
