SEA-WEEDS. 
197 
ling of houses, stopping crevices in walls, packing brittle wares, and 
the roots of plants, for distant conveyance. 
Ci To which may be added, that all in genera] contribute entertain¬ 
ment and agreeable instruction to the contemplative mind of the 
naturalist, at a season when few other plants offer themselves to his 
view. 
“ The Fungi have been suspected by some to be, like sponges and 
corals, the habitations of some unknown living beings, and being al¬ 
kaline, have been classed in the animal kingdom; but they are known 
to produce seeds, from which perfect plants have been raised; and 
the celebrated Hedwig, by great dexterity of dissection, and by using 
microscopes of very highly magnifying powers, assures .us that he 
has discovered both stamens and pistils, not only in this order of 
plants, but in the other orders of the Cryptogamous family. 55 * 
Order Hepaticce , or Liverworts. 
The 3 d Order contains the Liverworts, which are more succulent 
or juicy than the mosses; they have four-valved thecae, which cir¬ 
cumstance, and that of their not opening with a lid, distinguish them 
from the mosses. Their name, Hepaticae, signifies liver; but it is 
not yet known whether they received that name on account of some 
supposed virtue in curing diseases of the liver, or whether it was 
because they were thought to resemble the lobes or divisions of that 
organ. One of the most common genera of this order is the Junger- 
mannia ; you may here see (Fig. 154) a species of this, the compla- 
nata : with its parts, as represented under a magnifier. 
a, is a plant of 
Fig. 154. 
fruit. 5, the fruit 
magnified, show¬ 
ing the sheath, the 
peduncle rising 
from it, and the 
theca at top, $ot 
yet burst, c, the 
open capsule 
splitting and dis¬ 
charging the seeds, d, the theca empty, showing its four valves. 
natural size, m 
Order Alger , or Sea- Weeds. 
The 4 th Order includes the sea-weeds and frog-spittle ; these have 
leathery fronds, with fine dust-like seed, enclosed in inflated portions 
of the frond. They are almost always aquatics ; generally green or 
reddish. One genus of this family is the Fucus. The Focus natans , 
sometimes called the gulf-weed, is very abundant in the Gulf of Flo¬ 
rida, and is found xii various parts of the ocean, forming masses or 
floating fields, many miles in extent. The plant seems to possess 
no distinct root, though it perhaps originally vegetated on some sea- 
beaten shore, from whence it was by accident thrown upon the 
ocean’s wave. 
The Fucus giganteus is said to have a frond of immense length; 
from whence its specific name, signifying gigantic. You are here 
* Notwithstanding the weight which Thornton, author of the above quotation, 
gives to the opinion of Hedwig and others, it is, at present, much doubted by natural¬ 
ists, whether the Fungi have organs analogous to stamens and pistils. 
Describe Fig. 154 —Liverworts—Derivation of the name—Sea-weeds—Fuci—Gulf- 
weed. 
17* 
