c.
F LO C C A R IA GLAUCA.
Glaucous Fioccarla.
Class and O rd e r CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI, £tM._NAT. Ord. BYSSOIDEJE,
Gr«).—MUCEMNES, Unk.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Thallus stipitatus, capiiatus, omnino Jhccosus, capitulo e Jioccis stipitis laxe ex-
pansis. Sporidia ghbosa Jloccis inspersa.
Thallus stipifeite, capitate, entirely floccose, the head formed by the loosely
expanded filaments of the stipes. Sporidia globose, interspersed.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
F loccaria g lau c a ; .........................
Has. On the surface of a solution of Gum arable.
Plant one to two lines in height, erect, robust, entirely o f a most delicate
filamentous structure. Stipes dilated at the base, snow-white, dilated
again at the apex, and expanding into fasciculi of filaments, among
which the exceedingly minute, globose, glaucous sporidia are profusely
dispersed.
A curious and elegant little plant, belonging to the tribe
Cephalotrichei of F r i e s , but not referable to any defined genus.
It is singular in its purely floccose structure ; the filaments
of the stipes, in fact, forming the head, by their divergence.
It thus differs very essentially from Cephalotrichum
of L i n k , which has a rigid subulate stipes, and a capitulum
formed of contorted filaments, like that of a Stemonites denuded
of the peridium. The sporidia are developed in great
profusion, and, under the highest power of the microscope, still
appear minute.
Fig. 1. F. glauca, natural size. Fig. 2. A group o f plants. Fig. 3. A single
plant. Fig. 4. Filaments and sporidia ; magnified.
SOI