TJMBILICARIA. 



173 



Nat. Ord. Y. UMBILICABIA CEJE. 



Fam. Char, Thallus foliaceous, cartilaginous, prostrate, below 

 fibrillose or naked, — affixed by a single central point, which is 

 uinbilicated or reticulate-rugose above, monophyllous and lobate, 

 or polyphyllous and imbricate-lobate. Apothecium always black ; 

 patellate, flattened, sometimes becoming convex, margined, horny, 

 gyrose (marked by plicate or gyrate furrows), seldom simple on 

 surface or papillate ; exciple at first closed and thalline, becoming- 

 proper and carbonaceous. (Name from umbilicus, the navel.) 



Genus I. UMBILICABIA, Hoffm. 



A very natural and distinct, and an essentially montane 

 or alpine family. Its fructification approximates it to the 

 Grap/iidete. 



1. Umbilicaeia vellea (vellus, a fleece of wool). Thal- 

 lus, above greyish-pruinose, becoming bronze-coloured, — 

 below from ochroleucous becoming brownish or blackish, 

 papillose or hirsute ; apothecia sessile, appressed or depressed, 

 at first papillate, then concentrically plicate, with a thin or 

 thick margin. 



Some varieties of this species (the Gyrophora murina of 

 older authors) yield a fine orchill, and are imported to a 

 considerable extent into the London market from the Nor- 



