4rla [ 1789 ]
OPEGRAPHA herpetica.
Eruptive Opegrapha,
CKi PTOGAMIA Algce.
G e n . C h a r . Seeds in black, linear, sessile, simple or
branched, bordered clefts, in an uninterrupted crust.
S p e c . C h a r . Crust tumid and somewhat rugged,
brownish olive grey. Clefts prominent, crowded,
simple, oblong, convex, irregular.
S v n . Opegrapha herpetica. Ach. Meth. 23. Winch
Bot. Guide, v. 2. 3 0 .
Lichen herpeticus. Ach. Prod. 20.
D r , SWARTZ, who first determined this species, has fa*
voured us with a Swedish specimen, according precisely with
those, found by Mr. Turner on trees about Yarmouth, whence
our figure was taken.
It is known by its uneven crust, of a dirty olive brown or
grey, which is described by Acharius as bordered with black,
a character scarcely perceptible in any specimens we have seen.
The fructification is minute, consisting of very irregular,
crowded, little, short, black clefts, variously divaricated and
curved occasionally, but scarcely ever cloven, much less
branched : at length they become turgid, with roughish or
jagged edges.