The English flora - SeaweedAfrica

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1*26 ttJEPATICJE. [Jungermannia.
broader branched the margin sinuated. J. sinuata, Dicks. Cr.
Fasc. 2. p. 16. Dill. Muse, t. 74. /. 44.— y. palmata ; short
dense upright, fronds branched in a somewhat palmated manner.
J. Jareata, Hedw.
Wet places, upon heaths., in marshes and by the sides of ditches
both a. and /3.— y. mostly on decayed stumps of trees. Fr. Spr.— Allied
to the preceding, but truly distinct. Its fronds are far narrower, evidently
reticulated, equally compressed on both sides, and the calyptra
is tuberculated-
b. Frondsfurnished with a nerve or costa.
* Perianth single.
77. J. Blasia, Hook, (flask-bearing Jungermannia); frond oblong
submembranaceous dichotomous costate with scattered
toothed scales below, fruit arising from the upper side of the
costa, perianth and calyptra within the frond. Hook. Br. Jung.
t. 82, 83, and 84. Hobs. Br. Mosses, v. 1. n. 109. Lindenb. Syn.
Hepat. p. 96.
Blasia Hookeri. Corda in Sturm DeidschL Fl.
cum Ic.— Blasia pusilla, Linn. Sp. PL p. 1605. E.Bot. 1. 1328.
—Dill. Muse. t.3].f.7.
Moist heaths, on sandy ground occasionally inundated; not uncommon
in the mountainous and subalpine parts of England, Scotland and
Ireland. Fr. (rare) March and April.— This is a truly extraordinary
plant, of which ample details are given in the Monograph of British
Jungermannia quoted above. Anthers? oblong and reticulated are imbedded
in the costa. Gemmce of two kinds are found : the one contained
in a hollowed receptacle within the nerve, having a long tubular
beak. These are pale green, globose, reticulated, having a fibrous radicle,
and, when ready to escape, flowing in considerable numbers through
the mouth of the tube. The 2d kind consists of small almost black
sphserical masses of a granular or pulpy substance, appearing within the
epidermis on the underside of the frond, often covered by the scales.
The pistils of the female flowers are seen upon the nerve, on the outside
of the frond, quite exposed. In a more advanced stage, the ferti-
lized pistil is found in an oval cavity within the substance of the frond,
and surrounded by a membranous bag or perianth, whose summit is attached
to an umbilicus on the upper side of the closed cavity. At
length, the frond bursts with an irregular opening near the extremity,
and the calyptra in part, and the capsule and elongated peduncle entirely,
are protruded. Spiral filaments of a double helix. Seeds of 2 to 4
grains combined together and enveloped in a pellucid membrane.—The
late Mr. Hobson discovered this species with fructification near Manchester;
and Mr. Wilson finds it near Aber, N. Wales, and in Delamere
Forest, Cheshire.
78. J. epiphylla, Linn, (broad-leaved Jungermannia^); frond
oblong submembranaceous irregularly divided obscurely costate
the margin entire or somewhat lobed and sinuated, fruit from
the upper side of the frond and near the apex, perianth subcy-
lindrical plicate, the mouth somewhat dilated inciso-dentate,
calyptra exserted smooth. Linn. Sp. PL p. 1602. E. Bot.
t. 11 \. Hook, Br. Jung. t. 47. Hobs. Br. Mosses, v. 1. n. 108.
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