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L F G H E N nigrefeens.
Blackiß, or Bat's-w in g Lichen.
C R T P 7 OG A M l A Alga.
G e n . Char, Male, feattered warts.
Female, fmooth fhields or tubercles, in which
the feeds are imbedded.
Spec. Char. Leafy, gelatinous, membranous, rugged
and bliftered, o f a dark dull green, the lobes
rounded. Shields cluttered, reddith brown.
Syn. Lichen nigrefeens, Hudf, FI, An, 537. With.
Bot. A rr.v . 3. 198. Relb. Cant. 430, Sibth. Ox,
32,8. Dick/. H. Sicc.fafc. n . 2%,
L , vefpertilio. Light/. FI. Sc, 840,
Lichenoides laxatile membranaeeuro gelatinofum te-
nue nigrefeens. Ran Syn. 72,
L . gelatinofum membranaeeum, tenue, niffricans
Dill. Mufc. 138. t. 1 9 , / 20,
N o t unfrequent on the trunks of trees in damp woods,
or on moift rocks, &c. It grows in patches lying clofe to the
bark, especially the outermoft lobes of the frond, which are
rounded and entire, appearing very much wrinkled from numerous
oblong parallel puftule-like elevations in the fubftance of
n'U tr°u 1 eac" .°^ ^ i c h hollowed out on the under fide.
I he whole plant is fmooth, membranous, tender and gelatinous,
ot a dull deep green when wet, blackith when dry, and not
unaptly compared by Dillenius to a bat’s wing. Clutters of
little granules arife about the centre of the plant, and fometimes
a t over it, which are probably gemma, analogous to the bulbs
ot Dentana bulbifera, Lilium bulbiferum, &c. and this appears
to be the mott common mode of propagation in this Lichen as
well as fome others. The Ihields are rarely found. When
prelent, they are cluttered about the middle of the plant, fmall,
ot a reddith brown, each elevated on a little protrufion of the
trond, and with a flight entire green margin originating from
it. When old they become convex.