Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/549

 LIVERWOETS LIVERY OF SEISIN 543 seated on its surface ; spores without elaters ; 2, Marchantiacew, frondose terrestrial peren- nials, with the valvate capsules upon the un- der side of a target-shaped, stalked disk ; spores mixed with elaters; 3, Jungermanni- acece, mostly leafy plants with solitary fruit which splits into four equal valves ; spores mixed with elaters. These divisions are in systematic works subdivided by characters af- forded by the fruit, leaves, &c. The liverworts are found in all parts of the world where ex- cessive dryness does not prevail ; while some are peculiar to temperate or cold regions, others are found only in tropical ones ; two species of Jungermannia have been detected enclosed in amber, the only instances in which plants of this family have been found in the fossil state. The old herbalists called the frondose marchantias liverworts, and from their lobed appearance saw some resemblance in form to that of the liver ; according to the Plagiochila macrostoma. then prevailing view, this indicated that the plants were adapted to cure diseases of the liver, and we find them in the early works recommended for liver complaints under the name of hepatica. Though the generic name hepatica is now attached to a ranunculaceous plant, closely related to anemone, the name hepatica has been unfortunately (as leading to confusion) retained for the liverworts. Some species of liverworts have a strong and pecu- liar odor and an acrid taste, but so little is known about their uses that they cannot be regarded as of any importance to man. In some cases MarcJiantia polymorpha (and per- haps others) is sufficiently troublesome to be regarded as a weed ; in the moist climate of England it often annoys the gardener by spreading over' the rocks of the fernery to the exclusion of other plants, and in greenhouses everywhere it is a frequent intruder; some seeds are very slow of germination, and the soil of the pan or pot in which they are sown 502 VOL. x. 35 will sometimes become so covered with the fronds of MarcJiantia that the tiny plants can- not force their way through the mass ; or after the plants are fairly up, if not watched this liverwort may increase so rapidly as to choke and destroy them. Liverworts are to be sought for in moist places, on the faces of damp rocks and on the bark of trees; the margins of springs and the beds of streams which become dry in summer are favorite places for the collector; the plants may be readily kept in a growing state, and their de- velopment watched, by placing them in a dish under a bell glass and supplying them with water. When Linnaeus published his Species Plantarum (1753) only 44 species were known, but the number in 1842 exceeded 600, and the labors of botanists since that time have led to the discovery of many others. The American liverworts were elaborated for the second edi- tion of Gray's "Manual of Botany" (1856) by the late W. S. Sullivant of Ohio, who gave descriptions of 123 species in 38 genera; this memoir, together with that on mosses by the same author, was also published separately un- der the title of " The Musci and Hepaticse of the United States east of the Mississippi River," illustrated with elaborate copperplate engra- vings of the structure in each genus. Mr. 0. F. Austin of Closter, N. J., who has given special attention to these plants, published in 1873, under the title Hepatic Boreali- Ameri- can^ a collection of dried specimens; this consists of 150 species, including several not before described. Besides these works, the student is referred to Schwagrichen, Histories Muscorum Hepaticarum Prodromus (Leipsic, 1804); Hooker, "British Jungermanniee " (2 vols. fol., London, 1818, a beautifully ^ illus- trated work); Schweinitz, Hepaticw America Septentrionalis (Raleigh, N. 0., 1821); Nees von Esenbeck, Hepaticce Javanicce (Breslau, 1831), and NaturgescJiicJite der Europdischen Lebermoose (4 vols. 8vo, Berlin and Breslau, 1833-'8) ; Montagne, Essai d'organographie de lafamille des Jiepatiques (Paris, 1845) ; Hepa- ticce, in " Catalogue of Plants of Cincinnati," by Thomas G. Lea (1849), and in " Memoirs of the American Academy," new series (1850) ; and Berkeley, "Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany" (London, 1857). An elaborate ac- count of the microscopic structure and the de- velopment of the Jiepaticw is to be found in Sachs, Lehrbueh der Botanik (Leipsic, 1873). LIVERY OF SEISIN (Fr. liverie de seisine ; Lat. deliberatio or traditio seisince). A change of possession naturally accompanies, as it is indeed the best evidence of, a transfer of prop- erty. Personal chattels may be corporeally ex- changed ; but the alienation of immovable prop- erty must be certified by some ceremony or act sufficient to express the change of ownership. Under the system of feudal tenures, the posses- sion of lands was delivered by the lords to their vassals, by the solemn and public act of investi- ture. This ceremony took place upon the land