lU-i LICHENACEI. [SPHJTROPHOEUS. 



This small genus is distinguished from other fruticuU se licliens by the 

 thallus and apothecia. The fructilicatiin, though at first apparently 

 pyi-enocarpoid, is at length entirely e.s in this series. The black j owder 

 of the spores is easily rubbed off, so that it is sometimes net visible in 

 herbaria specimens. 



1. S. compressus Ach. Meth. (1803) p. 135. — Thallus fruti- 

 culose, erect, irregularly branched, -whitish (K — , medulla I — ); 

 branches short, compressed, much divided, naked or more or less 

 laterally and minutely fibrillose. Apothecia moderate, obliiiue, 

 globoso-depressed ; the receptacle lacero-dehiscent, or at length 

 discoid and open ; spores spherical, 0,007-11 mm. in diameter. — 

 Hook. Fl. iScot. ii. p. 67 ; Sm. Eng. Fl. v. p. 232 ; Grav, Xat. Arr. 

 i. p. 487 ; Turn. & Borr. Lich. Br. p. 115 ; Mudd, Man. p. 264; 

 Cromb. Lich. Brit, p. 15 ; Leight. Lich. Fl. p. 49, ed. 3, p. 48. — 

 Lkhen fra(jilis Huds. Fl. Angl. i. p. 460 pro parte ; Lightf. Fl. Scot. 

 ii. p. 888 pro miu. parte: Eng. Bot. t. 114. Coralloides alpinum 

 corallince riiiiW7-is facie Dill. Mnsc. 116, t. 17. f. 34c. Liclienoides 

 non tuhulosnm, ramuJis nigris scutellis ternrinatis Dill, in Bay Syn. 

 ed. 3, 66. \2>.—Bnt. Exs. : Mudd, n. 254 ; Larb. Lich. Hb. n". 205 ; 

 Dicks. Hort. Sic. n. 23. 



This, as observed by Turner and Borrer (I- c), "is a singularly elegant 

 and beautiful lichen in point both of shape and of cob ur, especially in its 

 fertile state, wheu the striking -whiteness of the thallus is relieved by the 

 jetty black of the large open cistul;^." In moist places the main branches 

 are occa-ioually of a glaucous colour, and rarely, as stated by Lightfoot 

 /. c, " tinged -with a bright-red colour '' (becoming, however, darker 

 ■when dry), " so as to resemble very strongly CoralJina rufjen-s Linn." 

 The compressed and normally whitish thallus and the oblique discoid 

 apothecia distiugui.-h it from the following species. The apothecia are 

 but sparingly seen in British specimens, and the spermrgones are seldom 

 present. They are tuberculose and brownish-black, situated on the main 

 branches, or more rarely on the apices of the tibrill£e, with spermatia 

 ellipsoid, 0,003 mm. long, 0,001 mm. thick. 



Hah. On rocks and boulders in shady places in upland tracts. — I}ktr. 

 General, though not common, in Great Britain ; rarer in W. Ireland and 

 the Channel Islands. — B. M. : Island of Guernsey. Tunbridge Wells, 

 Kent; Ardirigly. Sussex : Dartmoor, Devonshire: Cromford Moor, near 

 Matlock, Derbyshire : Craigforda, near Oswestry, Shropshire ; Aberdovey 

 and Cwm Bychan, Merionethshire : Farndale, Yorkshire : Teesdale, Dur- 

 ham : "Wark, Northumberland. New Galloway. Kirkcudbrightshire ; 

 Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh ; Barcaldine, Lome, Argyleshire : the 

 Trossachs and Loch Tay. Perthshire : Clova Mts., Forfarshire : Countess- 

 wells Wood, near Aberdeen : Lochaber, Imerness-shire. Turk Mt. and 

 Cromaglowu, co. Kerry ; Connemara, co. Galway. 



2. S. coralloides Pers.F.st. Ann. i. (1794)p.23. — Thullus unequally 

 and some-what loosely branched, suberect or ascending, greyish- 

 white or reddish-brown (K — , medulla I -f bluish) ; branches rounded, 

 numerous, rather short, -with compound lateral fibrillae. Apothecia 

 globose, moderate, the receptacle persistent, semi-globose and irre- 

 gularly dehiscent above ; spores spherical, O,00U-15 mm. in dia- 



