J U N G E R M A N N I A spinulosa,
P rickly-leaved Jimgermannia.
CRYPTOGAMIA Hepaticce.
G e n . C h a r . Male flowers sessile.
Capsule on a stalk rising from a sheath, of 4 valves.
Seeds attached to elastic filaments.
Spec. Char. Stems branched, erect. Leaves rather
distant, in two rows, without auricles, obovate, oblique,
sharply toothed. Fruitstalks lateral.
3yn. Jungermannia spinulosa. Dicks. Crypt, fuse. 2.14,
With. 874. Hull. 2 78 . '
Lichenastrum ramosius, foliis trifidis. Dill. Muse. 489.
t. 10. f . 15.
D lL L E N IU S found this on Snowdon, and Mr. Dickson in
the Highlands of Scotland. Mr. Griffith also has met with it
on the Welch hills. Nevertheless the fructification has escaped
all these_acute observers. s Mr. Hooker has collected in Scotland,
and Miss Hutchins in Ireland, what the former believes
to involve the female fructification. These are lateral ovate
buds, composed of two or three of the ordinary leaves folded
together, in which neither a proper sheath, nor any capsule
nor fruitstalk has been found. Most of them on the contrary
are empty, but in some we have discovered an apparent tuft
pf several young tube-like styles, or young calyptrce, like those
proper to this genus in common with mosses. Whether these
be such or not, if the appearance and disposition of these ovate
buds be considered, there can be little doubt of the truth of
Mr. Hooker’s opinion.
This species ought to range next to J. asplenioides., t. 1788,
from which it differs in its upright stems, and more distant
leaves, whose teeth are much fewer, considerably larger, and
more unequal. The fruitstalks moreover appear to be lateral,
pot terminal, and the colour of the plant, in Cur specimens,
is more pale and dull.