PILULARIA GLOBULIFERA. PILL-WORT.
P ILU LA R IA globulifera. Linn. Sp. PI. p . 1563. Iiuds. Angl. p. 462. Lig h tf. Scot. p. 682.
T'Vith. Bot. A rr. ed. 4. ml. 3. p. 742. Oed. Fl. Dan. t. 223. Smith Fl. B r it. p. 1142.
Engl. B o t.t. 521. Boit. Fil. p . 74. t. 40. Hoffm. Germ. ed. 2. ml. Q.p. 2. Willd.
Sp. PI. p. 534. Decand. Fl. Fr. ed. 3. ml. 2. p. 577. Fl. Gail. S yn .p . 117. Alton
Hort. Keto. ed. 2. ml. 5. p. 530. Mohr Fl. Crypt. Germ. p . 61. t. 1. f . 8. et t. 5.
■ ƒ . 1—4. .
GRAM IN IFO L IA palustris repens, vasculis granorum Piperis æmulis. R aii Syn. p. 136.
Dut. Pillenkruid. Fr. Mousse dorée. Boulette ou Globule d'Eau. Germ. Der Pillenfarn. It. Port,
and Span. Pilularia. Welsh. Pelanllys gronynawg. •
Class and Ord e r . CRYPTOGAMIA HYDROPT ERIDE S, m ild .
[N atural Ord e r . MARSILEACE/E, B r . RHIZOSPERML/E, Decand. FILICES,
Fructificationes radicales. Inmlucrum subsphcericum, non dehiscens, coriaceum aut membranaceum, uni- aut
multiloculare, organa utriusque sexus, deinde semina plurima, fovens. (Herbce aquaticce. Decand.')
Ge n . Ch ar. Inmlucra solitaria, subsessilia, globosa, coriacea, quadrilocularia. Decand.
Ge n . Ch ar. Involucres solitary, nearly sessile, globose, coriaceous, of four cells. Decand. '
Caules horizontaliter repentes, cæspitosi, filiformes,
fusci, geniculati, ad genicula radicantes, radicibus
fibrosis.
Folia ad genicula unum ad tria, juniora convoluta, re-
liqua tri- ad quadriuncialia, erecta, flexuosa, fili-
formia, apice subulata, pallide viridia.
I nvolüCRA solitaria, axillaria, breviter pedunculata, exacte
sphærica, magnitudine seminis canabini,
fusca, crUstaceo-coriacea, extus squamulis minu-
tis membfanaceis obsita; intus quadrilocularia,
dissepimento e membrana iuterna involucri.
F lores masculi et foeminei in singulo loculo, recepta-
cülp'longitudinali cenlrali parietali affixi.
An t iieræ numerosæ, totam fere partem superiorem loculi
occupantes, obpyriformes, obtusæ, membra-
naceæ, reticulatæ, pellucidæ, sessiles, unilocula-
res, evalves. Pollen magnum, sphæricum, pellu-
cidum.
G e rmin a plusquam dimidium tolius inferioris partis
■ loculi occupantia, numerosa, antheris majora.
Integumentum duplex, exterius late obovatum,
obtusissimum, membranaceum, pellucidum, vix
reticulatum ; interius subsphæricum, supra medium
constrictum, crustaceum, pallide cinereum,
stigmate minuto conico radiato terminatum ; uni-
Joculare, evalve. Intra integumentum exterius
et interius materies gelatinosa alba hyalina.
Semina numerosa, minuta, sphærica, hyalina, granulis
minutissimis pellucidis immixta.
Stems creeping horizontally, cEespitose, filiform, brown,
jointed, at the joints throwing out fibrous roots.
Leaves from one to three at the joints, the younger ones
convolute, the rest three or four inches high, erect,
flexuose, filiform, subulate at the apex, pale
green.
I nvolucres solitary, axillary, shortly pedunculate, exactly
spherical, of the size of a grain of hemp,
brown, between crustaceous and coriaceous, covered
externally with minute membranaceous
scales; within four-celled, the dissepiment being
formed by the internal membrane of the involu-
crum.
F lowers, male and female, in each cell, affixed to a
longitudinal central parietal receptacle.
Anthers numerous, occupying nearly the whole superior
part of the cell, obpyriform, obtuse, membranaceous,
reticulated, pellucid, sessile, onecell
ed, without valves. Pollen large, spherical,
pellucid.
Germens occupying more than half of the lower part
of the cell, numerous, longer than the anthers.
Integument double, the exterior one broadly
ovate, very obtuse, membranaceous, pellucid,
scarcely reticulated; the interior one somewhat
spherical, above the middle contracted, crustaceous,
pale-grayish, terminated by a minute cor
nical radiated stigma, one-celled, one-valved.
Within the exterior and interior integument there
is a white transparent gelatinous substance.
Seeds numerous, minute, spherical, transparent, mixed
with very minute pellucid granules.
Fig. 1. Plant, nat. size. Fig. 2. Portion of ditto. Fig. 3. Capsule, one half of the shell being removed to show
the anthers above and capsule? Fig. 4. Capsule horizontally cut open. Fig. 5. Portion of the capsule.
Fig. 6. Anthers and capsules. Fig. 7. Anther. Fig. 8. Pollen. Fig. Q. Capsule enveloped in its jelly.
Fig. 10. Capsule broken open to show the sporules and accompanying granules. Fig. 11. Sporules and granules.—
all but Fig. 1. more or less magnified.
The fructification of this truly singular plant has been but ill described and worse figured. The representation
given by Mohr in his valuable little Cryptogamic Flora of Germany is perhaps the best; yet even that is very
imperfect. In plants that differ so remarkably in their organs from any others hitherto known, and which are at
the same time so very minute, it must be very difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain with any degree of satisfaction
the end for which these organs were designed. Analogy will render us but little service here. I f I could
compare the internal structure of the bodies contained in the involucrum of this plant with any thing, it would be
with some of the Fuci. What is here called the pollen of the anthers has perhaps as good a right to be called the
seeds, as those bodies contained in what are here and by every author considered to be capsules. Indeed they are
of a larger size; and neither one nor the other present under the highest power of the microscope any appearance
of organization.
Sir J . E. Smith observes an affinity between the internal structure of the fructification of the Pilularia and
that of the F ig ; and even thinks that it might be arranged in the class Monoecia Polyandria.
With the exception of Decandolle and Mohr, almost every author with which I am acquainted lias considered
the involucrum to be four-valved, which I have never seen to be the case in any stage of its existence. Decandolle
decidedly says of it, “ non dehiscens.”
This genus, as well as Lycopodium and Isoetes, was by Linnasus and most of his followers included among the
F ern s; to which, it must be owned, it has but little affinity. Decandolle takes it into the natural order of
Rhizospcrma along with the genera Marsilea and Salvinia, natives of the South of Europe. Brown added to
these the genus Azolla, and, in conforniity to the custom of calling the order by the name of an individual belonging
to it, changed the name to Marsileacece, which Decandolle in the last edition of his Elbnens de Botanique
has adopted.
Pilularia globulifera is found, and not uncommonly, in boggy places, and such as are overflowed during a
great portion of the year, in various parts of the .kingdom.