JUNGERMANNIA obtusifolia.
Blunt-leaved Jungermannia.
CRYPTOGAMIA Hepaticce.
Gen. Char. Male flowers sessile. Anthers stalked.
Capsule on a stalk, rising from a sheath, of 4 valves.
Seeds attached to elastic filaments.
Spec. Char. Ascending, nearly simple. Leaves two-
ranked, of two unequal lobes folded together,
obtuse, entire ; the lower ones somewhat scimitarshaped.
Sheaths terminal, obovate, toothed.
Svn. Jungermannia obtusifolia. Hooker Brit. Jung,
t. 26.
J. n. 1871. Hall. Hist. v. 4. 61 ? excluding the
synonyms.
O l J R specimens, from Mr. Turner, were found near Bantry, in
Ireland, by Miss Hutchins. Mr. Thornhill first discovered this
species, in 1805, near Heddon on the wall, Northumberland.
Numerous, little, more or less crowded, plants, scarcely half
an inch high, form dense tufts, 'two or three inches broad, of a
pale, dirty, or brownish, green. Each plant is attached to the
earth by innumerable radicles, except the ascending extremity,
and is generally quite simple, the female fructification being terminal,
though the shoot seems to be now and then subsequently
extended beyond it. The leaves spread in two ranks, without
stipulaceous scales, and are recurved or scimitar-shaped, consisting
of two rounded, very blunt, almost always entire, lobes;
the smaller one erect, or rather folded upon the other. Sheath
inflated; its mouth toothed and contracted. Fruit-stalk about
as long as the whole stem. This species bears fruit in March
and April. Mr. Hooker finds it always dioecious. It cannot be
confounded with any other.