TT
PUCCINIA VARIABILIS.
Variable Puccinia.
Class and Obdee CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI, U rn Nat. Oed. GASTROMYCI,
Greti—EPIPHYTiE, Unk.
GEN ERIC CHARACTER.
Peridhm verum 0. Sporidia uni aut multilocnlata, pedicellata, pedicello Jixa, et
in ca;spitulis aggregata, foliis vivis parasiticis. Epidermis foliorum peridio
simillima.
True peridium 0. Sporidia one or many-celled, pedicellated, fixed by the
pedicel, and growing in minute clusters or tufts on living leaves. The
epidermis bearing a strong resemblance to a peridium.
S P E C IF IC CHARACTER.
P u c c in ia v a riab ilis; hypo- et epiphylla, minuta, suhnigra, orbicularis; sporidiis
plerumque obovatis, valde obtusis, bilocidatis, locidis swpius subdivisis et con-
strictis; pedicello brevissimo.
P. on both sides of the leaf, minute, nearly black, orbicular; sporidia mostly
obovate, very obtuse, two-celled, the cells often subdivided and constricted
; pedicel very short.
P u c c in ia variabilis, Grev. FI. Fdin. ined.
H as. On the leaves o f the Dandelion fLeontodon Taraxacum), in the autumn,
rather rare. About Edinburgh.
Plants minute, orbicular, scattered, never confiuent, very unequal in size,
bordered by the remains of the ruptured epidermis, almost black. Sporidia
very polymorphous, but having a general obovate form, the upper
cell being always very obtuse, the lower one sometimes attenuated.
Sometimes one or both the cells are subdivided, at others neither. Pedicel
extremely short.
Not being able to find any described species possessing tbe
characters of tbis little plant, I have ventured to give it a name
expressive of the inconstant form of the sporidia. It may not
VOL. II.