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LI C H E N fanguinarius.
Sanguineous Lichen.
C R T P T O G A M I A Alga.
Gen. Char. M a le , fcattered warts.
F ema le , fmooth fh ie ld s or tubercles, in which the
feeds are im b ed d ed .
Spec. Char. Cruftaceous, white and polifhdd. Tubercles
black, deftitute of a border, bright red within.
S yn. Lichen fanguinarius. Linn. Sp. PI. 1607. Iiud/.
FI. An. 5 24.
CjTATHERED copioufly by Dr. Smith on the granite rocks of
Cromford Moor near Matlock, though rare elfewhere. We
have been very fparing of fynonyms to this fpecies, becaufe
fcarcely any author feems to have underftood it Linnseus confounded
together feveral fpecies of Lichen, under the name of
fanguinarius, which in our opinion are diftimft, efpecially one
with a thin greyifh ground, and marginated tubercles, found
on the bark of fmooth young trees, and another with a thick
greenifh cruft, found on rocks. In this Meflrs. Hudfon, Light-
foot, Relhan and Withering follow him without any dif-
crimination. We fhould diflent from thefe refpeftable authorities
with great diffidence, if they appeared to have examined
the matter at all. What we here offer is the true L. fanguinarius,
on the authority of the ciefcription in Sp. PI. ed. 1 and 2,
as well as of the Linn. Herbarium (in which there is a fpeci-
men of it on the bark of a tree), and may be certainly diftin-
guiffied by the following marks :—
The cruft is white and poliftied, not mealy, often of a confi-
derable thicknefs, its furface confifting of minute unequal knobs
or ruga, its fubftance very white internally, though fometimes
ftained with a moft vivid vermilion hue. The tubercles are
very various in fize, flat, and imbedded at firft among the inequalities
of the cruft, but foon rifing above it, and becoming
very convex, even globofe, without any perceptible border, very
black, fcarcely Ihining. If their black furface be pared off, a
thicker layer of grey appears, and under that a mixture of white
and red, appearing to be the cruft of the plant elevated into the
centre of the tubercle, and fo becoming more conftantly (though
not infallibly) red than it is of itfelf in other parts.