334 Herre 



finest lace. In the dry lowlands the plant is often very coarse, 

 the broad unperforated expansions of the thallus reaching a 

 breadth of 40 mm. or more. In favorable locations Ramalina 

 reticulata may reach a length of at least two meters and a 

 breadth of two-thirds of a meter. 



The apothecia are produced in profusion and many specimens 

 can be found attached by the holdfast from which they have 

 grown, but the chief method of propagation and diffusion is by 

 the tearing or breaking of the thallus and the dissemination of 

 the fragments by the wind. This method goes on at all times, 

 fragments constantly breaking off and floating downward even 

 during the dryest and calmest weather. Alighting on any 

 object, the fragment soon becomes greatly entangled through 

 the hygroscopic action of its hyphse. 



The oaks are often completely covered with festoons of this 

 lichen, so that they present an appearance identical with that 

 of the live oaks of the Gulf States, covered with Tillandsia 

 usneoides. 

 Lichen reticulata Noehd. ; Schrad. Journ. Bot. 1800: 238. 



1801. 

 Ramalina reticulata Krempelh. Geschicht. u. Litt. d. Lich. 



I : 86. 1867. 



6. RAMALINA MENZIESII Tuckerman. 



Thallus originally tufted, rigid, linear, canaliculate ; lobes 

 more or less twisted, irregularly branched ; puberulent or 

 smooth. With age the plant becomes more or less flaccid and 

 pendulous, the lobes long, dilated and ribbon-like, more or less 

 irregular in outline, the edges fringed occasionally with lobules ; 

 surface furrowed and channelled ; color sage-green, gray-green, 

 or bright green. Apothecia abundant, at first marginal or sub- 

 terminal, later scattered ; small to large, sub-pedicellate, margin 

 usually incurved. 



Habitat, trees, shrubs, and old fences. It is apparently not 

 found in the higher mountains, but is exceedingly abundant 

 throughout the plains and foothills. 



This remarkable Ramalina attains a length of four or five 

 inches on trees, but reaches its maximum development on the 



