7 if fy [ 845 ]
L I C H E N vernalis.
Vernal Lichen.
CRYPT OG AMI A Alga.
G en. Chau. Male, fcattered warts.
Female, fmooth fhields or tubercles in which the
feeds are imbedded.
S pec. Char. Cruft thin, powdery, whitifh-green.
Shields at length almoft globofe, cluttered, of a
brown or rufty flefh-colour.
Syn. Lichen vernalis. Linn. Syft.Nat. ed. 12. v . 3 . 2,34.
Achar. Prod. 5 1 . Lightf. 805 . With. v . 4 . 14 ,
Hull. 2,88. Relh. 4 2 3 .
L. fphseroides. Dickf. Crypt, fafc. x. 9. t. 2 . f . 2.
With. v. 4 . 1 5 . HuU. 28 8.
Verrucaria rubella. Hoffm. FI. Germ. v. 2 . 1 7 4 *
N o T unfrequent on the barks of trees, or on moffes in low
damp places.
The cruft is irregular, thin, powdery or granulated, of a pale
dull olive hue, whiter when dry. Shields when very young
flattifli, with a thick border of their own colour, which
however is foon obliterated, and the ditk becomes very convex,
almoft globofe, often lobed, generally of a pale rufty hue,
verging towards a fleth-colour, but more frequently of the
colour of yellow ochre, and often brown. Thefe tubercles
(for fo they are in a full grown ftate) are of different magnitudes,
to the fize of a moderate pin’s head, and varioufly
cluftered together.
Mr. Hudfon has caufed great confufion by tranfcribing the
Linnaean char after of this Lichen for his ferrugineus, which
is a very different fpecies, the crenularius of Withering, and
figured twice by Hoffmann, PI. Lich. t. 1 3. ƒ I, and t. 35-ƒ•
We cannot but agree with Dr. Acharius, that Mr. Dickfon’s
L. fpheer aides is merely a variety of vernalis with rather more
protuberant fhields; and indeed Mr. D. Turner and ntyfelf had,
from the confideration of feveral original fpecimens, previoufty
formed the fame conclufion, and fixed the above fynonyms.
F&b. f. /S o /, jTuZZi/7ieAs JaA Saw erty- Jlondans.