CONFERVA ERICETORUM. 



C. filamentis fimplicibus tcnuibus, denfiiTime implexis : diffepimentis 

 paulum contracts, articulis longiufculis. 



C. ericetorum. Roth Fl. Germanica III. p. 507. Cat. Bot. II. p. 206. 

 On moift Heaths about London and Yarmouth, &c. 



THE learned and indefatigable Dr. Roth, of Vegefack, near Bremen, was die 

 fir(l botanift who ever defcribed this beautiful little Conferva, which he publifhed 

 in his valuable Flora Germanica, and Catalecla Botanica; two works to which I 

 {hall have frequent occafion to refer in the courfe of the prefent undertaking. — 

 My friend D. Turner added it to the Britifh Flora, having found it growing 

 abundantly on the bare parts of turfy heaths near Yarmouth, and compared it with 

 fpecimens fent him by its firft difcoverer. 



Its extremely flender fimple filaments, of a dull purple colour, from half an 

 inch to an inch in length, grow matted together in fuch a manner that they form 

 a denfe coat on the furface of the ground; and from their adhering fo clofely to it, 

 as well as from the fimilarity of their tint, are hardly diftinguifhable from the foil 

 itfelf, except by one much in the habit of obferving thefe plants. This is moft 

 probably the reafon why it fo long efcaped notice, for it is common on all 

 the moift headis I have examined, and I cannot doubt its being equally abundant 

 in fimilar places throughout England. Some other fpecies of Conferva delight in 

 fuch fituations; but from diefe, the colour of the prefent plant is quite fufHcient to 

 diftinguifli it. In Dr. Roth's figure above referred to, dre interior fubftance is re- 

 prefented as having divided and collapfed towards each diflepiment, whereas in 

 all the fpecimens which I have examined, the contrary has occured; and, as in 

 many other Confervae, it has formed an opake cylinder in the middle of each joint. 



A. Filaments magnified 3. 



B. Piece of ditto magnified 1. 



B 



