LICHENS AND MOSSES FROM CARSAIG, ARGYLE 41 



LICHENS AND MOSSES FROM CARSAIG, 



ARGYLE. 



By JAMES STIRTON, M.D., F.L.S. 



THIS year, during the month of August and part of Sep- 

 tember, at Carsaig, near Tayvallich, I picked up a few 

 mosses as well as lichens worth recording. This locality 

 cannot be said to have a diversified flora, although the rock 

 formation, as is well known, is diversified enough. The 

 first peculiarity in plant distribution that attracted my 

 attention while driving from Ardrishaig was the extreme 

 luxuriance of Cotyledon Umbilicus, extending, as it did, for 

 miles along the roadside, while here and there Jasione 

 montana obtruded itself. The plant, however, which stamped 

 almost a character to the vegetation was the lichen Panndia 

 caperatot, which occurred in great profusion, its yellow or 

 greenish-yellow colour rendering it very conspicuous. It 

 was afterwards found in luxuriant fruit in several places. 

 Besides this Parmelia I secured P. conspersa, P. pertusa, 

 P. cetrarioides, P. Icevigata, etc. 



The first moss which arrested my attention was 

 Didymodon flcxifolins, with setae just beginning to protrude. 

 On the 2Oth September, two or three days before leaving 

 the district, I secured specimens with abundant fruit, having 

 about one in four capsules ripe. Under ordinary conditions 

 of weather another month was amply sufficient to render the 

 capsules fully ripe. Now Wilson in " Bryologia Britannica " 

 states the period of maturing fruit as from February to 

 April. 



Along the sea-shore here, as elsewhere throughout the 

 West Coast of Scotland, was found in abundance TricJios- 

 toinum imitabile (I give Wilson's name as more familiar to 

 me), along with its numerous varieties, culminating in Tr. 

 litorale (Mitt.). For the last I have little regard as a 

 species, and prefer ranking it under Tr. mutabile. More 

 than 30 years ago I sent specimens of this variety from 

 Tighnabruaich to Mr. Wilson, who named it brcvifolium of 

 Tr. mutabile. I distributed, at that time, tufts of this variety 



