THE LICHEN FLORA OF THE SANTA CRUZ PENINSULA 2 2g 



I. CALOPLACA CORALLOIDES (Tuck.) A. Zahlbs. 



Caloplaca coralloides A. Zahlbs. Ann. K. K. Natur. Hofmus. 



22: ii6. 1907., and Kryptog. exs ic. No. 1558. 

 Placodium coralloides Tuck. Proc. Am. Acad. 6: 287. 1864. 

 Placodium coralloides Tuck. Syn. N. Am. Lich. I: 169. 1882. 

 Placodium coralloides Herre, Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci. 7: 385. 1906. 



Thallus slender, solid, cartilaginous, decumbent, forming orbicu- 

 late, eventually indeterminate patches; branches terete, nodulose, 

 blunt, sub-dichotomously divided, much intertangled; color bright 

 yellow or orange, finally dark orange; underneath and basally gray- 

 ish or blackening. 



Apothecia small to medium, lateral or terminal, sub-pedicellate; 

 the rough, dark-orange disk somewhat concave, becoming finally 

 convex and excluding the thin, entire, elevated margin; spores 

 oblong or ellipsoid, the sporoblasts usually approximate, the isthmus 



S — 7 

 generally lacking, /^. 



Very abundant on rocks above the sea at Point Lobos, San Fran- 

 cisco, and from Pescadero Point southward along the coast to Frank- 

 lin Point. It grows usually within a few feet of the water, barely 

 above ordinary high tide, and must be submerged at every storm or 

 unusual tide. 



A beautiful and unique lichen. 



2. CALOPLACA ELEGANS (Link) Th. Fr. 



Lichen elegans Link, Ann. Bot. 1 : 37. 1794. 

 Caloplaca elegans Th. Fries, Lich. Scand. 168. 1871. 

 Placodium elegans Tuck. Syn. N. Am. Lich. I: 170. 1882. 



Thallus orbicular or stellate, appressed, radiate, thick; many- 

 cleft, the hnear, convex or round and knotted, much branched lo- 

 bules more or less curved, twisted and knotted, but distinct; upper 

 surface smooth; color deep orange or vermihon. 



Apothecia numerous, small, concolorous; the concave disk becom- 

 ing plane or even convex, at last excluding the thin, somewhat paler, 



entire thalline margin; spores ellipsoid or ovoid, ^ /'. 



(( }) 



^ -fi. in Tuck. Syn. 



9-18 



