The British Charophyta

Abstract

THIS monograph of the British Charophyta is a valuable addition to the literature of British botany. It has also a personal interest for many British botanists as representing the work on this group, embracing much of the leisure of forty years, of the brothers Henry and James Groves, to the former of whom the volume is fittingly dedicated. In 1880 Messrs. H. and J. Groves published in the Journal of Botany a “Review of the British Characeæ,” in which an attempt was made to give an account of all the then-known British species, with illustrations and some particulars as to their variation and distribution. This was the first of a series of papers by the same authors, in which have been included descriptions and figures of fresh species added from time to time to the British list, records of distribution, and other notes. The present monograph, in which Canon Bullock-Webster co-operates, is the carefully considered outcome of these years of work. The systematic portion, which includes the first of the two subdivisions (Nitelleæ and Chareæ) of the group, is preceded by an introductory section dealing with the growth and structure of the Charophyta generally, and their distribution and affinities; this is well illustrated by numerous text-figures from various sources, and several plates. Each of the species is beautifully represented in a lithographed plate, mainly from drawings by Miss Mary Groves. The authors recognise six genera of Charophyta, five of which, Nitella and Tolypella, comprising the Nitelleæ, and Nitellopsis, Lamprothamnium, and Chara, included in the Chareæ, are represented in Britain. The key to all the British species, which precedes the general systematic account, includes thirty-two species, in several of which distinct varieties are recognised. Under each species there is a complete account of the synonymy with reference to previous publications, a full description in English, and an account of the distribution; notes on variation, affinities, and nomenclature are also added.