XXXVII. LICHENES,[1] L.
(By Dr. Thomas Taylor and J. D. Hooker.)
1. USNEA, Ach.
1. XJsREA.j>ticata, AcH.i 8yn. IAch. p. 305. Engl. Bot. t. 257. Sc&arer Inch. Helv. no. 401.
Var. /3, /«>(!«, Ach. 1. c. Se/icerer, no. 399.
Hab. Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island ; both varieties, abundant.
The variety /3, in Lord Auckland's group, is evidently the original plant, from which the U. hirta varies, and both are undoubtedly forms of U.florida; the latter, in its ordinary fruiting state, does not attain a high northern or southern latitude, being replaced by the U. melaxantha, which almost reaches the limits of Antarctic vegetation. We have little hesitation in affirming (with the author of the British Flora) that not only all the English species of Usnea are different aspects of one plant ; but also that it is the only individual of the genus which we know to inhabit the temperate and warm parts of the globe.
2. Usnea barbata, Ach., Spi. Lick. p. 306.
Var. is, .mlphurea; palhde strarninea v. sulphurea.
Hab. Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island; the var. /3 only, but abundant.
This differs from the European plant in no respect but its pale sulphur or lemon colour ; it is plentiful throughout Tasmania, Fuegia, and the Falkland Islands, and is decidedly a state of U. Idrta /3, hardly distinguishable from V. hirta itself, as the most casual observation in these islands will prove. It is often detached from its original place of growth, and, being carried by the winds over the barren Mis, is found in great abundance, sticking to low bushes and even to the rigid shrubby thallus of U. melaxantha, in Fuegia and the Falklands. Some of the slenderest states are with difficulty to be discriminated from the genus Cornicularia, the filaments being brittle and the central thread not very apparent.
2. RAMALINA, Ach.
1. Ramalina infiata, Hook. fil. et Tayl.; thallo hi cfespitem orbicularern congesto palhde flavo v. albido dichotome ramoso fistuloso turgido submembranaceo intus vacuo, lobis fistulosis intus stuppeis nunc foramhiulosis ultimis aeuniinatis, apothechs substipitatis concavis, disco concolore pruinoso, margine inflexo integerrimo. Cetraria inflata, nobis, in Hook. Loncl. Journ. of Bot. vol. iii. p. 646. (Tab. LXXIX. Fig. I.)
Hab. Lord Auckland's group ; on rocks near the sea.
Planta caasjiitosa, albida, siccitate rigidiuscula, madore flaccida, membranacea, pellucida, brunneo picta. Timlin* e basi subscutata ramosissima, 1-2-uncialis, cavus, iuflatus, paulo compressus ; ramis erectis, sub 3-4 lin. latis, fistulosis, sublacunosis, raro pertusis, intus vacuis v. parce stuppeis, extus lsevibus, ramulis alternis angustatis. Apothecia lateralia v. temiinalia, oblique inserta, stipite brevi; disco planiusculo, sub 3 lin. lato, concolori v. fusco-pruinoso;
- ↑ In arranging these species of a most variable Order of plants, the Synopsis of Acharius is followed, because it appears to us the more natural. That the precise plant referred to, under his name, may be the better understood, we have cited two works, which seem particidarly worthy of attention, from the discrimination which the authors have shewn in selecting a variety of forms; these are the 'Lichenes Helvetica?' of M. Schaerer, and the 'Stirpes Cryptogamicae Voges. Khenan.' of Mougeot and Nestler.
