T h e Gemmcü o f this p lan t are of two kinds, and highly curious from th e ir situation, which
is perfectly different from th a t in every o the r species o f the g en u s ye t known, and
deserving o f very p a rticula r description.
I shall first notice those bodies wliich hy most botanists are looked upon as the seeds, whilst
the ir receptacle has been considered th e capsule, upon the shape o f which, principally,
the cha ra c te r o f the genus Blasia has been established ! This receptacle is found plentifully
in th e sp rin g and summe r months j one, or rarely two, upon each segment o f a frond,
always towards (he extremity, and always upon th e nerve. T h is, in an early stage, forms
a swelling of an ovate figure, o r even ventricose; a t th e uppe r extremity furnished with a
beak, a t first sh o rt, acuminate, and closed (tab. 32. f. f. 4 . 10), a t len g ih becoming
lengthened o u t, cylindrical and hollow th ro u g h o u t (tab. 82. f. f. 1. 14). A section of
this (tab . 82. f. 14) discovers numerous sphcerical small bodies, enveloped in a perfectly
tran sp a ren t gelatinous mass, and apparently floating in it. Each o f these is cellular,
reticulated, the cells of very unequal sizes (tab. 82. f. 16), furnished with a minute
radicle, even before they are discharged from th e receptacle. T h is discharge takes place
through th e tu b e , and does so the more readily in dry weather, when th e fronds collapse,
and force th e gemmæ towards th e m outh, where they are often collected into a capitulum
by means o f the gelatine.
On the dispersion o f these Gemma, they fa ll n o t only on the gro u n d in g re a t number, b u t
on the fronds themselves, where they, sooner o r la te r, according to th e fineness o f the
season, develop themselves, becoming tufts o f small green scales, scattered over the apices
o f the frond, where they are retained by means o f the incurved ma rgins (tab. 84. f. f. 1 . 2. 4).
T h e ir appearance is totally unlike th e perfect p la n t; being o f an ovate figure, dentato-
spinose, th re e or four collected together, and re sting on th e ir base, which, however, does
n o t seem to have any point o f a tta chm en t to th e fro n d ; for they are removed by the
slighte st touch. These, it may be supposed, are expanded in an advanced sta te o f their
g row th ; the scales tak in g a different form, and the teeth becoming dilated into lobe s*. The
similarity between these scales and those o f th e u nde r side o f the frond is verv considerable;
b u t the ir difference has been already explained.
The second kind o f Gemma is situated on the unde r side o f the frond, b u t never on the nerve.
These appe a r in th e form o f small, roundish, da rk-gre en dots, within th e substance of
th e p la n t; b u t evidently n earer th e lower epidermis than the upper, th o u g h visible on
both sides, on account o f the ir deep color. As they grow older, they become prominent,
and form tubercles (tab. 82. f. f. 4. 6. and tab . 84. f. 2 ) on th e unde r side o f the frond;
y e t always continue covered with a s lig h t pellicle, o u t o f which, i f the swelling be
opened with the point o f a knife, the gemmæ readily fall, and are then seen to be spherical
masses, o f a substance between g ran u la r and pulpy, almost black, compact, b ut quite
free from any membranaceous covering like the tru e a n th e rs ; n o r are they a t all cellular,
like th e gemmæ ju s t described.
Although, for wan t o f a be tte r te rm , I have applied the name o f Gemma to these bodies,
I am fa r from supposing th a t these apparently unorganiz ed granule s have th e same
• Th at these young fronds should be so unlike the old ones
appearance of many seedling cryptogamous plants from perfect o
not so remarkable, when we consider the different
, particularly the Ferns.
Functions assigned to them as those contained in the receptacles, to which th e same
appellation is here given, and which, I think, are clearly ascertained to become new
p lants, like th e receptacular gemmæ of the Marchantia, and like those gemmæ th a t 1
have described on J . complanata, J . calijptrifolia, J . furcata, anil others ; whilst bodies,
analogous to the gemmæ in question, may be found in what I have in this work called
Gemma o f J . bicuspidaia, J . nemorosa, &c. (See, upon this subject, a remurk under
J . calyptrifoUa.)
Having now devoted three en tire p lates, and an equally unusual porlion o t letter-press, for the
description and illnatration o f tlie present s|iecies, little remains for me to add in the diagnosis,
which c an tend to a more complete knowledge of tlie plant ; since it is my wish simply to state
facta as Ï have seeo them, and to avoid every discussion re specting the offices o f the respective parts
of the fructification. I feel sensibly, th a t th e furllier I advance in my acquaintance with these
curious little vegetables, tlie gre a te r are the difficuities which arise in the determination o f the
sexual o rg an s; and I will, for the present, beg to declare myself n e ithe r th e piirlizan o f tlie
Hedwigian system, which, ingenious as it is, ajipears to be frau g h t with many difficulties, nor of
th a t of Richard, one o f th e most learned botanists of f lie present age ; whose theory o f " A g am e s ,"
as he calls the C ryptogamia o f L innæus, I am far from understanding as I would wish to do, althongit
I see sufficient to be convinced th a t it is highly worthy of a ttentive consideration. I shall content
myself w ith remarking, what I think no one will deny, tha t, if what, in conformity w ith the language
o f Hedwig, have here been called capsules and anthers in J . epiphylla, be really such, those bodies
which a te so denominated in the p re sent species, are, with equal propriety, worthy o f th a t
deuom ia tio n ; since th e closest analogy, in s truc ture and situa tion, exists between th em .
Declining tlien, as I do. brin g in g forward any a rguments on th e theory o f the fructification
ill this species, it will n ot be necessary to en te r much a t large into a critical examination o f the
labors of Hedwig and Schmidel, in th e ir Dissertations on the genus Blasia, which arc professedly
written with a view to ascertain what is tlie male, and w liat the female, fructification o f Hie p lant in
question. T h e ir specnlalions, indeed, are now completely overturned, by th e discovery o f what
they themselves would undoubtedly acknowledge to be th e tru e capsules.
I cannot, however, omit ad ding a few words on the genus Blasia, which must, in future , be
erased from th e Flora, i t was established by Micheli, who soys o f it, “ Han c novam plantom ju r e
quidem Optimo Blasiam denominavimus, a P a t. D. Blnsio Biagi Congregationis Vallis-Umhrosæ
Monacho, Botanico non gregario, ac in E ttu s c is itineribus nostris ad indagandas plantas sæpe
sednlo comité." T h e character he has defined to be “ Plantæ genus, flore monopetalo, campanitorEii,
tu bula to, elephantinam proboscidem quadamtenus æmulante, sed ste rili, e t calyce carente. Fruc tus
verb stmt capsiilæ secus foliorum m a rgine s, in quibus decem. u t plurimum minima rotunda
nidulantur semina.” A fig u re * is likewise added a t tab. 7 , b u t a very inferior one, compared
with th a t given by Dillenius, in liis incomparable HUIoria Musearata. This la tte r admirably
represents, thougli o t th e n a tura l size, th e tu b u la r receptacles, the marginal gemmæ, and the
• This fisure, though tol.rably good for the time in which it w ,. pobli.hed, i, yet fcr I.om conveying a correct
idea of the plant. T h e lobes of the frond are not expressed ; the marginal gemmæ are inaccnrate; and the receptacles
o l the gemmæ are too large, and the mouth too much expanded.