PALMEELA p r o t u b e r a n s .
Soft shapeless Palinella.
C l a s s a n d O r d e r CRYPTOGAMIA ALG ^, Linn N a t . O r d . CHJETOFILOROIDEJE,
Grev,—ALGA5, Juss.
G EN E R IC CHARAC TER .
“ Gelatina hyalina, expansa vel globosa, granulis discretis globosis vel ellipticis
farota.”—A g .
Receptacle hyaline, gelatinous, spreading, globose, filled with distinct globular
or elliptical granules.
gra-
S P E C IF IC CHARACTER.
Palmella protuberans; a-assa, irregulariter lobata, mollissima,
nulis ellipticis.
P. thick, irregularly lobed, very soft, green, the granules elliptical.
Palmella protuberans, Grev. Fl. Fdin. p. 323.—J g . Syst. Alg. p. 14.
U lva p ro tu b e ra n s . Smith, Eng. Bot. t. 2583.
H ab. Moist rocks, among mosses. Spring to Autumn. Campsie Glen,
near Glasgow, D r H ooker and D r G reville. Pentland Hills, Edinburgh.
In England, it was first discovered by Mr W. B ohrer on wet
sandstone rocks at Uckfield in Sussex, in 1813.
Frrnid spreading among mosses, in irregular masses, h a lf an inch to one inch
or more in breadth, thick, roundish, lobed, somewhat diaphanous, very
soft and gelatinous, easily d estroyed; colour green, b u t varying in shade,
sometimes olivaceous. Sporidia elliptical, dispersed through the whole
■U3
The plant here described agrees in all points with that
found in Sussex by Mr W . B o r e r . I t is by no means uncommon
in Scotland, but it is difficult to procure it in a good
state, as its tender consistence renders it liable to be destroyed
by very slight causes. As it grows old, it appears to fall into
shapeless masses by its own weight, especially when growing
among mosses on perpendicular surfaces of rocks.
Fig. 1. a, Palmella protuberans. b, A mass beginning to grow shapeless; natural
size, c, A section, d. Grannies; magnified.
M S