the top, at the bas< of which lie the young apical il.il.--llul.-s. sub- 



cru» 



p| a mm. long, arranged in ascending imbricate pseudoverticils. 



Filaments ol with a diameter <»t' h o ft above, 200 thick- 



walled irds apex. branching dichotomouslj in one plane, digitate, sub- 



.il riers very short, the upper ones much longer, with occasion al 

 nternodi 



itipes bearing lateral appendages 5 —7 times dichotomously divided and 

 narrow, more or less dactyline obtuse apici ■ Figs 189 — 192]. 



Th is nol by any means so well-known as R. phoenix and is not commonlj 



ind in herbaria, at least under its own name. Ik main characteristics are as follows 1 



flabellules arise in pseudo-verticils around the top of the stipes (rhachis), curve upwards and 



imbricated. Each flabellule emerges from the rhachis as a short simple filament, which 



divides dichotomously, first at very short, then at much longer distances, but always in one 



and the same plane; the resulting branches are arranged digitately side by side, but they are 



closely contiguous nor cement» ether as in R. phoenix. They may perhaps occasion- 



ally be partially cemented together, as Decaisné s diagnosis implies, for instance, at the base 



■ 't' the flabellule; but we have never seen them otherwise than entirely tree. The ultimate 



ramuli of the flabellule-filament are usually twice as thick as those of R. phoenix. hein-' about 



• in diameter. 



At the top of the capitulum is a cup-shaped hollow fig. mr formed by the upper 



whi : curvately ascending flabellules. At the bottom of this hollow is visihle the apex of 



the stipes (rhachis) bearing the youngest flabellules, which have almost the appearance of being 



cruciately arranged (fig. 191^). The apical cup-shaped depression was first noticed by Dr. M. A. 



Howe and is clearly evident in tin- pickled material presented by him to the British Museum. 



In specimens that have been dried by pressure the cavity is closed by the compression and 



- notice. It is only partially, if at all. recoverahle when the plant is soaki 



A'. oblongus may be briefly described as distingüished trom R. phoenix by dn- hollowed 



apical cavity in its capitulum, by the flabellules composed of free filaments (not laterally coherent 



with one another), and by the diameter of the filaments which is twice as large as in R. phoenix. 



1 uriously enough, R. oblongus is sometimes liable to be mistaken for Penicillus capi- 



tatus. In old and battered specimens of R, oblongus tin- filaments of the different flabellules 



apt to ime so tangled together that the flabellules become unrecognisable ; if then 



the apical cavity has become obscured, such specimens are Hkely to be referred to /'. capi- 



tatus by reason of the diameter of their filaments. Their true character may however be ascer- 



tained by an examination of the apex. On opening up the cavity it is generally possible t" 



find the digitate apical flabellules which characterise R. oblongus. Further, the two or three 



it joints of R. oblongus are more or less short and of equal length, while those ol /'. capi- 



about twice as long, of irregular lengths, and often exhibit an occasional bead-like 



1: moreover the successive dichotomies are in alternate planes. 



