SPILOMA tumidulum.
Scarlet Spiloma.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algce.
Gen. Char. Receptacles shapeless, without a border,
hairy and powdery, in an uninterrupted crust.
Spec. Char. Crust thin, continued, whitish, smooth,
rather polished. Receptacles minute, convex, red.
Syn. Spiloma? tumidula. Ach. Meth. l l . t. 1 . f . 5 .
Sphaeria gregaria. Wieg. Obs. 43. t. 2. f 10.
Dicks. Crypt, fa sc . 1. 22. With. v. 4. 391.
Hull. 424. R e lh .5 4 \. Sibth. 404. Abbot. 933.
Sowerb. Fung. t. 375. f . 5.
Arthonia tumidula. Ach. in Schrad. N. Journ.
v. 1. fasc. 3. 11.
B y no means uncommon on the smooth barks of trees. The
crust is extremely thin, continued, not very distinctly rounded
or bordered, even, smooth, whitish, somewhat silvery and
polished, scarcely cracked or scaly. Receptacles numerous
in the form of scattered irregular warts, a little prominent,
their external layer brown, producing innumerable scarlet
seeds, which are seemingly entangled in minute fibres of their
own colour.
Botanists have differed concerning the natural order of this
plant, and even Acharius seems not to be very decided about
it, neither was he aware of its synonyms, nor of its being so
common a production. We trust we are right in the above references
and characters, and that there is no doubt of its generic
affinity to our t. 2077 and 2078.