TREMELLA. 



and tremulous fubllance. — Dill. Mufc. 41. Linn. Gen. 567. 

 Scb-cb. 768. Mart. Mill. Dia. v. 4. Sm. Prodr. Fl. 

 Grac. Sibtli. v. 2. 336. Hudf. 562. Juff. 6. Lamarck 

 Illuflr. t. 881. Perf. Fung. 622 — Clafs and order, Cryp- 

 togamia jllgie, Linn. Crypt. Fungi, Perfoon. Nat. Ord. 

 Alg£ ambigua, Sm. Fungi, Perf. 



EfT. Ch. Fruftification fcarcely perceptible, in a mem- 

 branous, gelatinous, expanded, undulated fubftance. 



Nothing is more uncertain than the generic charafter, 

 and even the natural order, of Tremdla. The genus feems 

 made up of various gelatinous produftions, in which no 

 traces of fruftification have been detefted. Having no 

 (hields, tubercles or warts, they could not be referred to 

 Lichen or its allies ; neither have they feeds imbedded 

 throughout their fubftance, to make them Ulvx ; much lefs 

 any aggregated feeds with or without a perceptible pericarp, 

 as in Fucus. They moreover differ from both the latter 

 genera, \ni\oX. hemg fubmcrfed Alg<t ; for the aquatic fpecies 

 are, as Roth and Perfoon obferve, much better excluded. 

 The able cryptogamift laft named refers Tremella to the 

 order of Fungi ; but vnthout any attempt to (hew that they 

 produce powdery feeds from the furface of a hymenium, or 

 fuperficial membrane ; a moll material charadler of fuch 

 Fungi (fee that article) as have not a real pericarp with nu- 

 merous enclofed feeds. Their habit indeed is elfentially dif- 

 ferent. They are repeatedly revivefcent by means of moif- 

 ture, thriving in a wet atmofphere only, though not living 

 immerfed in water. In thefe particulars they agree exaftly 

 with the Lichcncs, not with genuine Fungi; which laft, 

 though they generally flourifh in humidity, are fcarcely re- 

 vivefcent after having been once dried up The various 



Ipecies, of which Perfoon defines twenty-four, are generally 

 parafitical, on the bark or branches of living trees, or on 

 dead wood. We doubt the reality of feveral, which appear 

 to as mere gummy exudations of the plants on which they 

 -ire found. This will prefently form a fubjeft of enquiry. 

 ^Ve propofe to detail all the Britifti fpecies, real or fuppofed, 

 along with any exotic ones that feem particularly worthy of 

 notice. 



We are not much fatisfied with Perfoon's feftions of this 

 genus, nor do we think it advifeable to adopt them here, on 

 account of the uncertainties above-memioned. Our deter- 

 mination does not arife from any difrefpeiS for that excellent 

 author, one of the moft methodical and accurate in this ob- 

 fcure and much negledted path. 



T. mefenterica. Plaited Yellow Tremella. Retz. Prodr. 

 294. Perf. n. i. Dickf. Crypt, fafc. i. 14. Engl. Bot. 

 t. 709. (T. mefenteriformis ; Jacq. Mifc. Auftr. v. i. 142. 

 t. 13. T. juniperina ; Hudf. n. i. Noftoc luteum, mefen- 

 terii forma; Vaill. Parif. t. 14. f. 4.) — Seffile, cluftered, 



plaited, lobed, waved, orange-coloured Found in rainy 



weather in the autumn and fpring, on dead branches of oak 

 and other trees, or on decayed ftumps of broom or furze ; 

 never on living wood or bark. This very ftriking and con- 

 fpicuous fpecies forms clufters of various dimenfions, from 

 one to four inches broad, of a rich orange hue, more or 

 lefs deep ; when young pale or whitifh. The fubftance is 

 foft and flexible, neither vifcid, nor very tender. In dry 

 ■.veather, or after being gathered, it {brinks, becomes hard, 

 :ind affumes a dirty brown colour ; but revives in moifture. 

 Little tafte or fmell is perceptible in any part, nor has any 

 fign of fruflification been difcovered. Yet the plant ap- 

 pears to be annual, and confequently mult be propagated 

 by feed. 



T. lutefccns. Soft Yellowifh Tremella. Perf. n. 2. Ic. 



et Defer. Fung. 33. t. 8. f. 9 " Convoluted, extremely 



foft, doliquefcent, pale yellow." — Obferved by Perfoon on 

 Vol. XXXVL 



the branches of beech in autumn, but rarely. Half an inch 

 broad, and of a fofter fubftance than the foregoing. We 

 are unacquainted with this fpecies. 



T. perfijlens. Perennial Purplilh Tremella. BuUiard 

 Fung. v. I. 223. t. 304 — Horizontal, leafy, fomewhat 

 coriaceous, fmooth, undulated, pale violet. — Found on the 

 ftems of the Savine, Juniperus Sabina, according to Bulliard, 

 lafting for a number of fucceflive years. When dried up it 

 is hardly diftinguiftiable from the black fcales of the bark ; 

 but in very moift or rainy weather it appears in the form of 

 horizontal leaves, half an inch or more in length, bluntly 

 rounded and lobed, of a pale vinous purple. Bulliard. 



T. ferruginea. Plaited Rufty Tremella. Engl. Bot. 

 t. 1452. — Seffile, cluftered, lobed, waved, of a rufty-brown ; 

 the furface finely pubefcent. — Obferved by the late Mr. 

 Crowe, at Lakenham, near Norwich, growing on dead 

 wood, in wet weather in winter, compofing plaited convo- 

 luted tufts, three or four inches broad, pliable and tender, 

 fhrivelled and ftiapelefs when dry, reviving imperfeftly with 

 moifture. The fegments are rounded and waved, not lobed 

 or notched ; their colour a rich brown, white within ; the 

 furface finely downy, or rather covered with pale velvet-like 

 granulations, interfperfed with brown irregular fpecks, more 

 hke fructification than any thing elfe that has fallen under 

 our notice in this genus, except perhaps what Bulliard de- 

 fcribes in the follcrwing fpecies. 



T. "usrticalis. Upright Dark-purple Tremella. Bulliard 

 Fung. V. I. t. 272. (T. mefenteriform-is violacea ; Ibid. 

 V. 1 . 230. t. 499. f. 6, X, Y. ) — Cluftered, ereft, lobed, iinu- 

 ated and plaited, fmooth. — Found on decayed ftumps of 

 trees in autumn. Of a vinous violet-colour when young ; 

 afterwards of a blackifti red-brown. It always grows ereft, 

 from one to four inches high, gelatinous and elaftic, crack- 

 ling between the teeth. Laid when frefh on glafs or white 

 paper, it difcharges from every point of its furface a very 

 fine powder, fuppofed to be the feeds. This anfwcrs to the 

 nature of Fungi, and high microfcopic examinations afe re- 

 quifite to determine how thefe feeds are produced ; whether 

 in feries of eight together, from cells of the upper furface, 

 as in Peziza, fee that article ; or in a lefs regular manner, 

 from pores of the hymenium invefting the under furface. 

 Bulliard has finally reduced the prefent fpecies to a variety 

 of his mefenteriformis ; but it is furely very diftinft ia many 

 eflential points from our mefenterica, and we cannot but 

 fufpeft him to have here confounded feveral things together. 

 His original verticalis is faid to be valuable for its colouring 

 principle. When boiled in water for many hours, by which 

 the form and colour of the plant are not altered, it yields a 

 deep brown, likely to be ufeful in dyeing. For limning, 

 BuUiard obtained by infufion of this Tremella in fimple 

 water, a fine reddilh biftre-colour, very durable, and pre- 

 ferable to any that he could buy in the (hops. 



T. intumefcens. Brown Tumid Tremella. Engl. Bot. 

 t. 1870. — SefGle, cluftered, twifted, tumid, brown, ftiining 

 and gelatinous ; when dry thin and membranous — Gathered 

 by Mr. W. Borrer, in January 1807, on a beech in St. Leo- 

 nard's foreft, Suflex. This confifts of roundifti foft pulpy 

 maffes, two or three inches broad, convoluted and inflated, 

 like the inteftines of fome animal, of a darkifti, dull, not 

 red, brown ; but with a Ihining vifcid furface, obfcurely 

 dotted. When cut, brown vertical ftreaks are obfervable a 

 little way into the fubftance, which may contain the feeds, 

 though none have as yet been detefted. 



T. moriformis. Mulberry Tremella. Engl. Bot. t. 2446. 



— .Seflile, cluftered, twifted, black, opaque ; internally flefhy, 



deep purple. — Found by Mr. C. E. Sovverby, on pales and 



rails in Surry, early in Jujie. This grows feflile, on ex- 



A a pofed 



