The English flora - SeaweedAfrica

98 HEPATICiE. [Riccia.
6. Jungermannia. Common receptacle of the fruit none :
perianth or calyx monophyllous, tubular (rarely wanting)
capsule 4-valved, terminating a peduncle which is longer than
the perianth.
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CRYPTOGAMIA HEPATIC^E.
1. RfcciA. Linn, Riccia.
Capsule sphserical, immersed in the frond, indehiscent,
(covered by a calyptra?), crowned with a style which alone is
protruded. (3Iusc. Brit. ed. 2. p. 211.)—Named in compliment
to Pietro Francesco Ricci, a Florentine botanist.
1. R. crystdllina, Linn, (clirystalline Riccia); frond carnose
ovato-oblong 2—3-lobed, the divisions dichotomous. Muse.
Brit., ed. 2. p. 212. a. frond fleshy glaucous channelled, segments
acute. R. glauca, Linn. Sp. PL p. 1605. E. Bot.t. 2546.
Hooker, Fl. Scot. P. II. p. 110. Lindenb. Syn. Hepat. p. 117.
—R. minima, Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1605. Dill. Musc.t. 78./ 10, 1 1.
—(3. frond thin nearly plane yellowish-green, segments obtuse.
R. crystallina, Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1605. Lindenb. Syn. Hepat.
^.116. Dill. Muse. t. 78./ 12.
On banks, «. in rather dry situations. /3. in moist places, especially in
the mould of garden-pots in the greenhouse and stove, Bot. Garden,
Glasgow. Fr. March, Apr.—A careful examination of numerous specimens,
both fresh and dried, enables me to assert that the vars. above
named are all the same species, depending mainly on age and place of
growth for their different appearance. The first, «., including glauca and
minima, Linn., these being only dependent on age and size, grows in
comparatively exposed spots, and is small, fleshy, but little divided,
grooved along its upper surface, and of a glaucous green colour. The /3.
again, which is commonly called crystallina, inhabiting moister places, is
generally larger and thinner, with more numerous and obtuse segments
and a yellowish-green hue. In both thefronds grow in orbicular tufts, ra-
diating from the centre, and when fresh, have a remarkably clirystalline
appearance, owing to the delicate and pellucid nature of the cellules, not
unlike Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, which induces me to retain the
present specific appellation.
2. R. ? fluitans, Linn, (iiarrow floating Riccia); aquatic floating,
frond thin repeatedly forked, with linear obtuse segments
generally notched at the extremity. Limi. Sp. PI. p. 1606. E.
Bot. t. 25 1 . Muse. Brit. ed. 2. p. 2 1.3. Ricciellafluitans, Braun.
—Lindenb. Syn. Hepat. p. 115. Dill. Muse. t. 74./. 17.
Stagnant waters. Not found in Scotland. Fr. . Fronds half
an inch to 2 inches long, yellow-green, repeatedly dichotomous, segments
linear, somewhat thickened, as if nerved in the centre grooved above
when dry, seinipellucid ; reticulation indistinct; extremities obtuse,
opaque, sometimes appearing spotted, as if with young fructification, 1 ac-
1 Lindenberg describes the fructification as " Caps, globosa, in inferiori
frondis pagina sessilis, (circumcissa?). Setnina elateribus destituta."
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