MAR 
MAR'CHA’ND (Profper), born at Paris towards the 
clofe of the feventeenth century, was from his youth 
brought up to the bookfelling trade, and acquired a great 
knowledge of books and literary anecdotes. His attach¬ 
ment to the proteftant religion, and his connection with 
Bernard, the continuator of the Nouvelles de la Repo- 
blique des Lettres, induced him to remove to Holland, 
where for fome time he a fled as a bookfeller, but at length 
entirely devoted himfelf to literature. The ftudies of bi¬ 
bliography and of French hi (lory were his favourite pur- 
iuits j and on thefe topics he was confulted from all parts 
of Europe. He was alfo one of the principal writers In 
the Journal Litferaire 5 and he furnifhed other literary 
journals with curious extracts. He died at an advanced 
age in 1756, and left his library and manufcripts to the 
univerfity of Leyden. Marchand publifhed, 1. L’Hiftoire 
de l’lmprivnerie, 4to. 174.0 ; a work of great erudition, 
but fo overwhelmed with notes and quotations, that it is 
a mere chaos. Abbe Mercier, abbot of Saint Leger de 
Soiflons, gave, in 1775,41°. a fupplement to this hi (lory, 
which is equally curious and accurate. 2. Diftionnaire 
Hiftorique, ou Memoires Critiques & Litteraires, 2 vols. 
folio, 1758 ; filled with curious information and literary 
anecdotes, but often minute and trifling. 3. A new edi¬ 
tion of Bayle’s Dictionary and Letters. Nouv. Did. Hijl, 
MARCHAN'TIA, f. [fo named by John Marchant, 
in the Memoires de PAcad. des Sciences for 3713, in ho¬ 
nour of his father Nicholas , author of feveral eflays in the 
fame collection.] In botany, a genus of the clafs crypto- 
gamia, order algae, natural order algae, (hepaticae, JuJf .) 
The generic characters are—-Male, either (talked or feflile. 
Calyx; perianthium a membranous border, undivided or 
lobed, permanent, furrounding a tuberculated horizon¬ 
tal difk. Corolla : none. Stamina : filaments none ; an¬ 
thers numerous, oval, of one cell, immerfed vertically in 
the difk, each encompafled by a vertical ring, and opening 
by a pore at the furface of the difk. Female, on the fame 
or a feparate plant. Common calyx; large, ftellated, he- 
mifpherical or conical, flowering underneath, the florets 
pointing downwards. Perianthium feflile, bell-fliaped, 
membranous, tender, coloured, with four or five teeth. 
Corolla : veil feflile, fliorter than the perianthium, oblong 
or fomewhat globofe, membranous, very thin, crowned 
with the ftyle, and at length fplitting at the top into from 
two to five fegments, one of which retains the ftyle at its 
fummit. Piltillum: germ in feflile, oblong, fomewhat 
globofe, invefted with the veil ; ftyle ftraight or incurved, 
ihort, prominent from the top of the veil; ftigma Ample-. 
Pericarpium : capfule attached by a capillary ftiort ftalk, 
obovate, of one cell, opening at the top with from five to 
ten, ufually eight, teeth, which at length become revolute. 
Seeds : very numerous, globofe, attached to feveral elaftic, 
fpirally-contorted, threads.— EJfentialCharaflcr. Male, ca¬ 
lyx falver-lhaped ; anthers numerous, annulated, imbed¬ 
ded in its difk. Female, calyx peltate, flowering under¬ 
neath 5 capfules defiexed, opening at the top by feveral 
revolute valves ; feeds attached to elaftic filaments. 
This genus is next akin to Jungermannia, (fee that 
article,) with which it very much agrees in habit, efpeci- 
ally with thofe fpecies that have no item feparate from the 
leaves; and grows like them in damp umbrageous places. 
The herbage however is, on the whole, of larger dimen- 
flons than in Jungermannia, and the fructification more 
elaborate, or at leaft better defined, as well as effentially 
diftinct in characters. 
Species. 1. Marchantia polymorpha, ftar-lieaded mar- 
chantia, or liver-green : calyx of the female flowers cloven 
into about ten narrow fegments. Very common in damp 
places, about fprlngs, wells, and fhady court-yards through¬ 
out Europe, varying much in fize, in proportion to the 
moifture of its fituation ; being often a molt troublefome 
weed in gardens, over-running pots that are obliged to 
be kept moift, as well as beds of Alpine or American plants. 
It flowers about Midfummer, and is perennial. Few plants 
are endowed with fuch ample and pertinacious powers of 
M A R 843 
propagation. The fronds fpread horizontally, creeping 
clofe to the earth, ftone, or wall, by means of denfe, fibrous, 
foft, and filky, radicles of a fhining brown. They are fe¬ 
veral inches in extent, bluntly lobed, of a dark fhining 
green, fringed with Icales, and more or lefs reticulated. 
The upper furface of the leaf or frond is ftudded with fe¬ 
veral pale cups, toothed at their edges, half filled with 
green lenticular buds, as mentioned above. By thefe the 
plant is copioufly increafed, in lefs moift places, where it 
does not readily flower. The proper flowers grow from 
marginal clefts, on ereft Ample (talks, from one to three 
inches high, thofe of the females tailed, and on a feparate 
plant. The common calyx of the latter is deeply cut into 
eight or ten deep, linear, radiant, obtufe, fegments, from 
the under fide of which, towards their bafe, the flowers are 
produced. The feeds are yellow’, and the fpiral filaments 
to which they are attached have an apparently fpontaoe- 
ous motion, which however arifes merely from their elas¬ 
ticity, and exquifite fufceptibility of moifture. On the an¬ 
nexed Plate, fig. i. exhibits a fegment (or target as Wither¬ 
ing calls it) of male flowers, cut perpendicularly down 
through the footftalk. Fig. 2. a follicle of ftamens taken out 
and more magnified, to (how its furrounding ring. Fig. 3. 
a germen, with its projecting ftyle. Fig. 4. a capfule, 
with its three fucculent fibres. Fig. 5. an elaftic cord 
taken out of the ripe capfule, with one of the feeds. 
2. Marchantia chenopoda, or goofe-foot marchantia : 
calyx of the female flowers halved, palmate, with four 
obtufe fegments. Native of the Weft Indies, on moift 
rocks. The fegments of the frond are oblong, finuated 
or wavy at the edge. The common calyx of the female 
flowers are remarkable for being cut away on one fide, all 
its four fegments being directed the other way, like the 
fingers of a hand, or toes of a web-footed bird. The up¬ 
per fide of the frond is befprinkled with fine pellucid dots 
or grains. 
3. Marchantia crticiata, or crofs-headed marchantia ; 
calyx of the female flowers in four deep crofs-like tubu¬ 
lar fegments. Native of fhady damp places in Italy, 
France, and England, fructifying in July. The fronds 
are fmaller than in M. polymorpha, and dilated outwards. 
Flower-ftalks each from a toothed cup on the difk of the 
leaf. Common calyx of the female flowers at firft conical, 
but foon becoming deeply divided into four fpreading 
cruciform tubular fegments, from whofe extremities the 
capfules and feeds are protruded- 
4. Marchantia tenella, or (lender marchantia ; calyx of 
the female flowers hemifpherical with a little point; its- 
margin radiated. Gathered by Gronovius in Virginia. 
The frond of this delicate fpecies fpreads circularly, but is 
not altogether much above an inch broad. The (talks 
are nearly terminal, very (lender, above an inch high. 
Calyx very convex, crowned with a minute blunt point,, 
and fringed with numerous fegments that bear the capfules. 
5. Marchantia hemifpherica, or hemifpherical marchan¬ 
tia : calyx of the female flowers hemifpherical, cloven into 
about five oval fegments; (talks naked at the bafe. Na¬ 
tive of Europe, about the banks of rivers and ditches, or 
the moift crevices of rocks, fometirnes in expofed fitua- 
tions,-flowering in the early fpring. The fronds are lobed,. 
forming broad patches; their upper furface granulated, 
of a fine green, often purplifh at the edges. Stalks not 
above an inch high. 
6. Marchantia triandra, or three-celled marchantia;. 
calyx of the female flowers hemifpherical, undivided, of 
three or four cells. Found by Scopoli in Carniola, by 
Weber in Hercynia, and by Thunberg at the Cape of 
Good Hope; for the original fpecimens of the tenella of 
the laft-mentioned author prove to be this plant. This is 
a fmall fpecies, whofe fronds are at molt but an inch long ; 
(talks half an inch high, or thereabouts, purplifh. The 
fpecific name alludes to the old Linnsean idea of the fe¬ 
male being the male flowers. 
7. Marchantia androgyna, or monoecious marchantia s 
calyx af the female flowers hemifpherical, half four-cleft, 
of 
