LICHEN pollinarius.
Mealy-cracked Leafy Lichen.
CR YP TO GAMIA Algce.
G en . Ch a r . M a le , scattered warts.
F em ale , smooth shields or tubercles, in which the
seeds are imbedded.
S pec. Ch a r . L e a fy , lea the ry, spreading, smooth , pitted,
greenish g r e y , sprinkled with p owde ry c r a c k s : the
lobes ja g g e d , in linear segments. Shields nearly
terminal, s ligh tly e levated, buff-coloured, with a
greenish , in fle x ed , smooth border.
Syn. L ic h en pollinarius. Ach. Prod. 1 7 8 . Act. Holm,
ann. 1797. 263. t. 1 1 . ƒ . 2.
Parmelja pollinaria. Ach. Meth. 264.
L ich en o id e s lacunosum lacerum, latius et angustius.
Dill. Muse. 163. t. 2 1 . f . 57.
F o r the fine specimens of this Lichen here represented we
are obliged to Charles Lyell, Esq., who gathered them on an
old oak in Testwood Park, New Forest, Hants. They precisely
accord with every part of Dillenius’s description, though
that author never saw the shields. They also agree with specimens
from Acharius, though he has chiefly gathered and
described the more common state of the plant, as it grows on
old barn doors, and seems not to have recognised the synonym
of Dillenius.
The fronds grow in a tufted and spreading manner, varying
greatly in size and in breadth. The white mealy cracks which
appear on them when old or dry are characteristic. Their
proper greenish grey hue turns to a yellowish buff with age, as
Dillenius also observes. The shields stand very near, or upon,
the margin, and are slightly elevated on athick wrinkled stalk,
which runs into a broad, inflexed, smooth border of the same
colour and texture as the frond. The disk is fiattish, mostly
cracked by age, pale buff. Acharius mentions this Lichen as
very good for dyeing wool or silk pale red or dark brown.