;
likewise occasionally marked with darkish spots
(fig. 198).
Genus 49. SPHÆROCARPÜS, Mich.
Involuc re none. Perianth pear-shaped,
smooth, pierced at the apex, ag g rega ted on
the surface o f the frond. Ca lypt ra crov^ned
with a deciduous style. Sporangium at
length near ly free, globose, indéhiscent ;
spores destitute of elaters.
Sphærocarpus terrestris, Müh.
Fronds g row in g s ingly, or in patches
J to ^ inch in length, flat, margin s light ly
lobed, thin, of a pale-green colour, adhering,
by the underside, b y means o f numerous
radicles, upper surface bear ing the pear-
shaped follicles.
Sphærocarpus terrestris, Mich. Nova. Gen. 4,
t. 3 ; Dill. Muse. 536, t. 78, f. 17 ; Eng. Bot.
t. 2 9 9 ; Hook. Muse. Brit t . 215; Eng. FI. V.,
i., p. 9 9 ; Carr, and Pears. Exs. No. 2 1 5 ;
Linden. Mon. 496, t. xxxvi ., fig. i . Sphoe-
rocarpus Michelii, Bell. Ac t . Taur . V., 258 ;
C o o ke Hep. f. 195.
On the ground, especially clover field.s.
Fronds growing singly, or collected in patches, on
the ground, 4 to 1 inch long, plane, slightly waved,
margin variously lobed, lobes short and rounded.
I
texture thin, reticulated, pale green somewhat
g l a u c o u s , a d h e r in g b y
numerous fibrous radicles produced
199.
on the underside of
the frond ; superior surface,
except towards the margin,
covered with many obovate
follicles of the same colour as
the frond, variable in size,
truncated at the top and perforated,
with an entire aperture.
Within these are sometimes
two to five pistilliform bodies,
at other times one of these is
oblong, and swollen, or it may more rarely assume
a spherical form (fig. 199).
Sub-order 4. ANTHOCEROTACEAi.
Vegeta t ion frondose, soft. Fronds for the
most part orbicular, margin more or less
de eply lobed or incised. Fruit pedunculate,
capsular, pod-like, most ly two-valved, with
an axial filiform columella. Elaters present.
Spo re s at first enclosed in tetrasporous utricles,
then free.
Genus 50. ANTHOCEROS, Mich.
Fronds mos t ly orbicular, radiately lobate,
near ly plane, or depres sed in the centre, costa
confluent and confused with both sides of frond.
Monoicous or dioicous. Capsule pedunculate,
exserted. Elaters undulate. Anthe r idia scattered
without order on the frond.
u