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L I C H E N gracilis.
Slender Cup Lichen.
CRYPTOGAMIA Alga.
G e n . C h a r . Male scattered warts.
Female, smooth shields or tubercles, in which the
seeds are imbedded.
Spec. Ch a r . Cup-shaped, long, slender, smooth, cartilaginous,
greenish brown, at length somewhat
branched. Cups conical, sharply toothed. Tubercles
brown. Leaves minute.
S y n . Lichen gracilis. Linn. Sp. PI. 1 6 1 9 . Ach.
Prod. 191. With. v. 4. 37. Hull. 303. Lightf. 873.
L. pyxidatus ur. Huds. 555.
Basomyces gracilis. Ach. Meth. 344.
Coralloides scyphiforme serratum- elatius, caulibus gra-
cilibus glabris. Dill. Muse. 88. t. 14. f . 13.
T o determine the species among the Cup-bearing Lichens is
one of the most difficult problems in botany. Mr. Hudson
cuts the Gordian knot by uniting them all into one, but surely
nothing can be more rash. On the other hand, it may perhaps
be allowed that other botanists have subdivided them beyond
the limits of Nature. If any of them be distinct species, that
in our plate is one. It grows in mountainous heathy or dry
woody places, nor is it in the northern counties unfrequent,
bearing fruit at all seasons.
T h e leaves, w h ic h fo rm a k in d o f c ru s t, are m in u te , lobed
a n d c ren a te . S tem s ro u n d , h o llow , lo n g and slender, m o stly
Very sm o o th , o liv e -co lo u red , b row n u pw a rd s, w h e n b a rren
s h a rp -p o in te d , b u t g en era lly te rm in a tin g in sm a ll, c o n ic a l,
b row n c u p s, sh a rp ly an d irreg u la rly to o th e d a t th e ir edges, and
th e re stu d d ed w ith little , ro u n d , sm o o th , ch e sn u t-co lo u red
tu b e rc le s. T h e m a rg in s o f th e se cups are a t le n g th prolifero
u s , an d som e tim e s th e m a in stem its e lf is divided.