J f l , [ 2284 ]
C O L L E M A Schraderi.
Schraderian Collema.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algcc.
G en. Char. Shields orbicular, horizontal, nearly
sessile, superficial, with a gelatinous accessory
border.
Spec. Char. Frond somewhat fleshy, tufted, erect,
branched in a forked manner, rugose. Shields
lateral, reddish, with a pale border.
Syn. Collema Schraderi. Sm. FI. Brit. v. 4, ined.
Lichen Schraderi. Bernh. in Schrad. Journ. for
1799, fuse. 1. 22. t. 2. ƒ . 5.
P a rm e lia S c h ra d e r i. Ach. Meth. 243.
O u r specimens marked 1 were gathered during a visit to
Matlock bath in June 1783, on a low stone wall next to a
wood, half way betwixt the two principal inns. No British
botanist has observed the same, and they have remained undescribed
hitherto; but we find them exactly accord with
what Dr. Schrader has sent us under the above name. They
compose little tufts, mixed with moss, among the crumbling
mortar and limestone, and grow erect, repeatedly branched,
forked and level-topped. They are of a dull and darkish
olive green; paler below; compressed and shrivelled when
d r y ; gelatinous and somewhat fleshy when wet. Such is the
indubitable C. Schraderi, on which no fructification has yet
been found.—Fig. 2 represents a plant found by Mr. Turner
on Caistor church, Norfolk, also on heaths near Bury, and in
Sussex, which has small reddish shields. He thought it a
distinct species; but considering how much this gelatinous
family often varies when it bears fruit, and still how little essential
difference there is between the two specimens, we venture
to publish them, at least for consideration, as the same.
As to the genus now first introduced to our readers, we have
hinted at it in p. 2264, and are persuaded that none of this
natural order can be more natural or distinct.