CRYPTOSPHÆRIA c a p i l l a t a .
H a ir -tu fted Cryptosphoeria. ^
C l a s s a n d O r d e r CRYPTOGAMIA PUNGI, Linn N a t . O r d . HYPOXYLA,
De Cand. Grev.
GEN ERIC CHARACTER.
Receptaculum 0. Sphoerulæ duriusculoe, sparsæ vel aggregatæ, siib epidermide
insidentes, ore nunc depresso nunc elongato, quandoque nulle; intùs massa gelatinosa
sporulifera instructce.
Receptacle 0. Spherules corneous, scattered or aggregate, lying beneath the
epidermis, with the mouth depressed, elongated or wanting, containing
a gelatinous sporuliferous mass.
S P E C IF IC CHARACTER.
C h y p to s p h æ h ia capillata; in foliis graminum mortuorum parasitica ; sparsa,
fusca, intus alba, hemisphcerico-depressa, apice capillis nigris, rigidis, diver-
gentibus instructa.
C. parasitic on the leaves of dead grasses ; scattered, brown, white within,
flatly hemispherical, the apex furnished with black rigid diverging hairs.
C r y p to s p h æ r i a capillata, Grev. FI. Edin. ined.
S p h æ r ia capillata, Nees von Esenbeck, Syst. p. 82. t. 43. f. 346.
H ab. On the decayed leaves o f grasses. Auchindenny woods. Braemar.
In both situations on the leaves of Holcus mollis.
Gregarious, sometimes scattered over the leaves of a whole plant, minute,
but the little terminal tufts of black bristly hairs very evident to
the naked eye. It is convex, dark brown, and situated beneath the epidermis,
or rather contained in the very substance of the leaf, the apex
alone protruding its tuft of hairs. The interior is quite white. I have
not been able to discover the sporules ; they are, however, figured by
N e e s v o n E s e n b e c k , and appear to be oblong, and divided into 3 parts
by articulations.
This minute, but fine little Cryptosphceria, is only described
by the celebrated N e e s v o n E s e n b e c k in his System
of Fungi ; for, although he quotes the Sphceria cornata of
P e r s o o n (Syn. Fung. p. 88.), that plant is in reality a veiy
VOL. II.
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