more numerous subdivisions (in the anther-bearing fronds
quite linear), the margins more flexible, wavy, and sometimes
crisped; the midrib better defined at the edges; the
colour of the mature fronds a darker green, destitute of the
brownish purple tinge on the midrib observable in J. epiphylla.
The annual buds, produced soon after winter, are
also very different in their linear shape, and also (as it
would seem) in their lateral position. This species appears
to be truly dioecious; but the anthers are immersed in the
frond above the midrib, exactly as in the other species.
The oblong shape of the seeds or sporules is remarkable,
especially in an early stage, when they are clustered four
together; and the spiral filaments are not tortuous and
crooked like those of J. epiphylla.
The large ventricose calyx, and the short, included and
concealed corolla, are constant and essential characters.
In an early stage the pistilla are mounted on a very prominent
receptacle, and there are sometimes two, and even
three capsules produced from one calyx. In this species
(as also in J. epiphylla) the base of the peduncle is surrounded
by a vaginula, the relative situation of which,
within the calyptra, is quite different from that of the
Musci. Some monstrous states of the fruit were observed,
in which the processes resembling the peduncle were seen to
grow out from the side or summit of the capsule.—W. W.