L I C H E N florid as.
F l o w e r y L i c h e n .
CRYPT OGAMIA Alga.
G en. Char. Male, fcattered warts.
Female, fmooth fhields or tubercles, in which the
feeds are imbedded.
Spec. Char. Filamentous, furnithed with a central
thread, much branched, eredt, greenifh g ra y ;
branches fpreading, round, fibrous, warty, bearing
broad flat fhield-like radiated dilatations, of their
own colour. Tubercles on the branches, lateral,
fleth-coloured, rugged.
Si'N. Lichen florid us. L'mn. Sp. P i. 1624. Hudf. $6 o.
W ith. v . 4. 50. Hull. 307. Relh. 440. Dickf.
H. S icc.fa fc. 1 1 . 25. Achar. Prod. 224.
Ufnea vulgatiflima tenuior et brevior, cum orbiculis.
D ill. Mufc. 69. t. 13 ./ . 13.
Mufcus arboreus cum orbiculis. Rail Syn. 65.
(jA T H E R E D at Hafod, Cardiganfhire. It chiefly grows
on dead branches, but the radiated ditks are feldom found,
except on the higher trees in old woods; and the tubercles, or
real fructification, having never before been even fufpeCted to
exift, are here firft prefented to the curious botanift.
The items form upright bufhy pale greenifh tufts, riling from
a hard black bafe, and are round, compofed of a cruftaceous
bark, enclofing a tough white fibre. They divide into innumerable
compound fpreading taper branches, polifhed, but
minutely warty, which, when perfect, bear large flattifh thin
dilatations, of nearly their own colour, at firft lateral, but foon
appearing terminal, the branch above them becoming reflexed
and confounded with the numerous radiating fpines with which
their irregular border is fringed. Tubercles on the younger
branches lateral, fmall, prominent, flefh-coloured, rugged, very
rarely furrounded with a few fpines.
May thefe radiated difks be abortive flowers ? The tubercles
are furely the real ones. Many botanifts, even Dr. Acharius,
fuppofe the common L . hirtus to be this plant without fructification.
Ray thought otherwife, and we fufpeCt him to be
right; for we have fome American fpecimens of hirtus with
flefh-coloured tubercles growing on the main Jlem, not on the
branches, which may afford a fpecific difference. • Perhaps fome
fortunate obferver may deteCt thefe in England. L. comofus
of Acharius feems ftill diftinCt from both thefe fpecies.