The English flora - SeaweedAfrica

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162 LICHENES. [Lepraria.
in the centre. Ach. Syn. p. 116.— Thelotrema clausum, Schcer.
Lich. Helv. p. 68. n. 122. Lichen clausus, Hoffm.—L. exanthe-
maticus, Sm. in Linn. Trans, v. 1. p. 81. t. 4. /. 1. E. Bot.
t. 1184. L. volvatus, Fill.
On exposed calcareous rocks.—Acharius observes that this curious
little plant recedes in character from its congeners ; and Mr. Borrer that
it has, in its nature, the closest affinity with Lecidea marmorea, Ach.
4. T. Hutchinsicc, Borr. {Miss Hutchins Thelotrema); crust
very white, warts of the apothecia crowded obsolete of irregular
figure at length expanding with a broken flocculose inflexed
orifice, the nucleus (inner apothecium) forming a dark-grey
pruinose concave disk with a white lacerated margin. Borr. in
E. Bot. Suppl. t. 2652.
On the ground, encrusting fragments of heath, moss, &c, near
Bantry, Ireland, Miss Hutchins.— " This resembles a good deal the variety
as it probably ought still to be accounted, of the Acharian Urceolaria
scruposa, which in the Synopsis is called Gyalecta bryophila. Yet in the
structure of the fructification, it appears to agree essentially with the
type of the Genus 'Thelotrema, (T. lepadinum,) particularly in the
presence, in an advanced stage, of a thin margin to the discoid nucleus,
separate from the spurious one, formed from the substance of the
thaUus."
(True Lichens.)
c. Apothecia ? naked sporules (gongyli or pulvinuli),
l FAM. V. CoNIOCARPEiE. *
9. Lepraria. Ach. (Lepra, Hall.) Lepraria.
Thallus crustaceo-leprous, spreading, adnate, uniform. Apo-
thecia none. Sporules naked, forming the thallus, scattered,
and conglomerated, free Named from As/r^, leprosy; from
the scurfy appearance of the species.—This genus is assuredly
among the most simple of what are called True Lichtns by M.
Fee. Though the infant granules may sometimes form an imperfect
apparent crust distinct from the sporules; yet, in general,
this plant consists of an uniform stratum, more or less thick, of
minute granules, which some have considered merely as the
thallus of a plant of which the fructifications are unknown,
others as a mass of sporules, gongyli or pulvinuli of some authors,
propagula of Messrs. Turner and Borrer. These last-mentioned
Botanists have, fortunately for science, written their History
of this Genus and I gladly adopt their arrangement and characters,
only removing those species (L. ceruginosa and L.
chlorind) which have filaments mixed with the granules, to the
Fungi. Dubis and De Candolle remark on Lepraria, " Genus
vix hujus familia? et ex elementis heterogeneis (Lichenum crusta
sterili, Fungorum, Algarum prima evolutione) probabiliter conflatum."
Hence the L. ceruginosa has been referred to the Al-