[ 2358 ]
S P 1 LO M A melanopum.
Broad Black Spiloma.
iis
CRYPTOGAMIA Algce.
Gen. Char. Receptacles shapeless, w ith o u t a border,
hairy and powdery, in an u n in te rru p ted crust.
Spec. Char. Crust very th in , greyish. Receptacles
flat, dilated, irregula r,somewha t confluent, black.
S yn. Spiloma melanopum. Sm. FI. Brit. v. 4. ined.
S. melanopa. Ach. Meth. 10. t. 1. ƒ . 3.
Lichen rugosus. Hoffm. Enum. 10. t. 2. f . 5 ?
O n the smooth barks of trees ; not uncommon on the apple
tree, according to Mr. W. Borrer, where it assumes the
appearance of sooty spots. The crust is scarcely discernible,
except in a young state, when it is greyish or ash-coloured
and very thin, besprinkled with innumerable, little, round,
powdery, black specks, or masses of seeds. These soon run
together into broader irregular patches, a^drawn by Acharius.
We find a mixture of minute green granulations, which may
cither be adventitious portions of a Lepraria, or possibly the
infant fructification of this Spiloma. There arc also to be
seen, in our specimen, a number of simple, curved, jointed
threads, intermixed with the fructification; perhaps some
nondescript Conferva. We do not wish to conceal our doubts
nor our ignorance, but merely exhibit and describe what we
have seen, for others to decide upon.—Hoffmann’s Lichen rugosus
agrees so nearly with this plant, that we sec scarcely any
room to doubt their being one and the same.