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L I C H E N lieteromallus.
Black Plush Lichen.
CRYPTOGAMIA Aïgoe.
Gen. Char. Male, scattered warts.
Female, smooth shields or tubercles, in which the
seeds are imbedded.
Spec. Char. Minutely shrubby, densely tufted,
erect, entangled, cylindrical, corymbose,
with palish notched tips.
black,
G r A T I I E R E D b y Mr. Sowerby, 10 of 12 years ago, in the
autumn, growing in cracks o f the bark o f old elms in Hainault
forest. W e cannot find any characters suitable to it in Acha-
rius, to whose genus o f Cornicularia it undoubtedly belongs.
T h e fronds form w ide dense black patches, from a quarter to
h a lf an inch thick, harsh and rigid, but not brittle, when d r y ;
soft, elastic, and spongy when wet. Each is repeatedly branched,
from a slender base, in a corymbose manner, upwards, so as
to make a level surface at the top. T h e colour is a deep olive
bla ck , rather shining, paler here and there, especially at the
tips, which however are often quite b la ck , and the whole,
standing upright, are entangled laterally b y their branches,
so as to compose something like coarse velvet or plush. N o
shields are discoverable.
A t first sight this plant resembles L . musdcola, A ch . Prod.
215, but under a magnifier its position and ramifications are
found totally different.
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