Lichens of Santa Cruz Peninsula 341 



III. Evernia Acharius. 



Thallus tufted, fruticose, erect, becoming finally long and 

 pendulous ; terete and angular basally, or else leafy and flat- 

 tened ; branched or lobed ; medullary layer cottony ; color, 

 lemon-yellow, or pale green. Apothecia, when present, sub- 

 terminal or marginal, the disk chestnut; the margin often 

 fibrillose. 



Spores simple, colorless, ellipsoid. 



With us, fruiting specimens are very rare. 

 Evernia Ach. Lich. Univ. 84. 1810. 



I. EVERNIA VULPINA (L.) Acharius. 



Thallus tufted, erect, much branched, becoming long and 

 pendulous; branches terete, basally angular ; large specimens 

 conspicuously angular and lacunose ; whole plant a bright 

 lemon-color; very small, immature specimens sometimes of a 

 yellowish green. Apothecia large, terminal, more or less pedi- 

 cellate ; disk chestnut ; margin often fringed with large fibrils, 

 otherwise smooth and entire. 



On trees, old fences, and sandstone. 



Occurring everywhere on the Santa Cruz peninsula, though 

 never attaining a length greater than 3 inches. Small, incon- 

 spicuous specimens are found on old fences and roofs from the 

 salt-marshes about San Francisco Bay to the summit of the 

 range. At the head of Devils Canon, at an altitude of 2300 

 feet, it occurs in considerable abundance on Pseudotsuga taxi- 

 folia; here it is also common on sandstone as also at Castle 

 Rock, altitude 3000 feet. On Loma Prieta(3788 feet) it occurs 

 on dead limbs of Adenostoma fascicidatton. 



I have but one fertile specimen from the Santa Cruz penin- 

 sula, found on an old fence near Stanford University, at an 

 altitude of 200 feet. 



In the Santa Lucia Mountains, San Luis Obispo County, and 

 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it forms huge, matted, yellow 

 clumps 6 inches or more in length, fruiting in the greatest pro- 

 fusion. 



Used as a dye-stuff in the valley of the Willamette, Oregon, 

 where its growth is also luxuriant. 



