[ 1539 ] / c
LICHEN capitatus.
Sulphureous Tin-headed Lichen.
CRYPTOGAMIA Alga.
Gen. Char. Male, scattered warts.
Female, smooth shields or tubercles, in which the
seeds are imbedded.
Spec. Char. Crust leprous, powdery, greenish-yellow.
Tubercles on capillary foot-stalks, globose, yellow;
disk brown, powdery.
Syn. Lichen capitatus. Ach. Prod. 86. Schreb. Lips.
134. Relh. 457.
Calicium capitellatum. Ach. Meth. 98.
Mucor furfuraceus. Linn. Sp. PL 1655. Hull. 419.
Clathrus virescens. Huds. 632.
Trichia furfuracea. With. v. 4. 398.
C o l l e c t e d by Mr. W. Borrer on the sandy soil near
Dorking, Surry, in the month of July. It grows also on
rotten wood. A specimen sent by Dr. Acharius is on a bit of
black turfy earth.
Much diversity of opinion has existed among botanists
concerning the genus of this minute vegetable, as the above
synonyms evince. It is now indeed no longer in doubt, being
unquestionably of the tribe of Lichens named Calicium (see
t. 1465,) which perhaps deserves as well as any other of its
allies to be a distinct genus.
The crust is tender and powdery, of a conspicuous sulphur-
colour, more or less inclining to green. The minute heads
are globular, of the same colour, standing on very slender
longish stalks, which are at first yellow, then brown. The
powder contained in the heads is likewise of a brown hue.