ft? d [ 2052 ]
LICHEN delieatus.
D e l i c a t e S p u r i o u s C u p L i c h e n .
CRYPtOGAMIA Algce.
Gen. Char. M a le , scattered warts.
F em a le , smooth shields o r tubercles, in w h ich the
seeds are imbedded.
Spec. Char. L e a v e s v e ry minute, s talked, many-cleft,
crisped, ja g g e d , m e a ly , g lau co u s -g re y . Fruit-stalks
compressed, simple o r divided. T u b e rc le s clustered,
tum id , pale b r o w n ; at len gth b la ck .
Syn. Lichen delieatus. Ehrh. Crypt. 2 4 7 . Ach.
Prod. 199.
L . parasiticus. Hoffm. Enum. 39. t. 8. f . 5 .
Basomyces delieatus. Ach. Meth. 327.
C o m m u n ic a t e d to us by Mr. W. Borrer, who observed
it on rotten rails in St. Leonard’s forest, Sussex, for the first
time in Britain. His specimens agree with the original one of
Ehrhart in our possession, and with Hoffmann’s description
and figure.
It grows in broad dense patches of a glaucous grey hue.
Each plant is small, erect, shrubby, branched, bearing numerous,
crowded, stalked, minute leaves, finely lobed, jagged,
and crisped, with mealy tips and edges. The fruit-stalks are
terminal and solitary, simple or divided, naked or scaly, more
or less compressed, each bearing a head of tumid, uneven
tubercles, of a pale flesh-coloured brown, turning (according
to Acharius and Hoffmann) black with age.