CONFERVA DICHOTOMA. 



C. filamentis, fafciculatis ftriclis faftigiatis dichotomis fub-articulatis, dif- 

 fepimentis obfoktis ; articulis longiffimis, capfulis ellipticis feffilibus. 



C. dichotoma. Sp. PI. p. 1635. Fl. Aug. p. 593. Withering. IV. p. 129. 



Eng. Bot. t. 932. 

 Ceramium dichotomam. Roth. Cat. Bot. I. p. 153. Fl. Germ. III. p. 474. 

 C. dichotoma fetis porcinis (imilis. Dill. Mufc. p. 17. t. 3. f. 9. 

 C. Plinii, fetis porcinis fimilis. Ray. Syn. p. 58. 

 In Ditches, common. 



THIS Conferva, in denfe maffes, occupies, and often nearly fills the ditches in 

 many parts of England, throughout the fpring and fummer months ; confpicuous 

 for its dark green color, matted appearance, and above all, its erecl: faftigiated 

 fummits, which, at firft fight, bear a ftrong refembknce to a parcel of hog's 

 briftles, to which they are aptly compared by Dillenius. The filaments are mem- 

 branaceous, tubular, filiform, in general about two feet long, and confiderably 

 thicker than horfe hair, always ftraight and fimple, or but once or twice divided, 

 till they arrive at a few inches from their apices, when they are branched 

 with repeated dichotomies, at uncertain but fhort diftances from each odier, the 

 angles of the divifions being every where acute. The fummits are blunt ; the 

 lengdi of the joints irregular, though always confiderable ; in a frefh ftate, their 

 beginning and termination can hardly be difcovered, but, after the plant is dried, 

 they appear (lightly contracted at each end. The capfules, which were firft dif- 

 covered by ProfefTor Mertens, of Bremen, are rather longer than the width of 

 the filaments, and fcattered without order about them, fometimes fingly, and 

 fometimes in clufters of five or fix together. A doubt is fuggefted in Englifh 

 Botany, whether thefe are true capfules, or only fome extraneous bodies; I have 

 however been enabled to decide that it is without foundation, and that the feed: 



