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L I C H E N pubescens. '
Black Tufted Lichen.
CRYPTOGAMIA Alga.
Gen. Char. M a l e , s ca tte red w a r ts .
F em a le , sm o o th sh ie ld s o r tu b e rc le s , in w h ic h the
seeds a re imb edded .
Spec. Char. F ilam e n to u s , m u c h b ra n ch e d , de cumb
en t , e n ta n g le d , ro u n d , r o u g h , o liv e b la c k . Shields
c o n c a v e , reddish b row n , o r b la c k is h , w i th a marg
in o f th e ir ow n su b s tan ce and c o lo u r .
S vn. L ic h e n p u b e s c en s . Linn. Sp.'PL 1623. FI. Snec.
ed. 2 . 426. Ach. Prodr. 217.
L . s eab e r . Huds. 562, 661.
L . e x ilis . L ig h tf. 894. With. v. 4. 47. Hull. 306.
L. intrieatus. Elirh. Crypt. 80.
C o r n ic u la r ia p u b e s c en s . Ach. Meth. 305.
C o n fe r v a a tro -v ir en s . Dillw. Conf. t. 25. $ t. D.
■Syn. 60. Pref. 5.
E have gathered this on Ben Lomond, as well as in Cardiganshire.
It always.grows, as Acharius well observes, on wet
or dripping rocks, not, like most of its tribe, in dry open
spots. The shields, a very great botanical rarity, have obligingly.
Ixjen lent us by the Rev. H. Davies, who gathered them
in company with Mr. Hudson, and who confirms the synonym
of that author, as the Linn man herbarium establishes that of
Linnaeus. Dillenius seems to have been unacquainted with
this Lichen, according to Mr. Davfies, whose paper on this, and
several species near it, will appear in the 1 1th vol. of the
Linn. Soc. Transactions, and who has examined his herbarium.
This is much smaller than any British Lichen of the same
sort, and grows decumbent, in dense entangled patches, of an
olive black with some polish. Its numerous branches are rough
with minute points, their ends acute. Shields lateral, sessile,
scattered, small; when yoting concave, bright reddish brown,
semitransparent, with a smooth margin of their own substance
and colour; by age they become darker and flatter, and the
margin rather uneven.
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