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“Synopsis ” and the various lists examined, C. symphycarpa Fr. is a widely 
distributed plant and f. symphycarpia uncommon. The collector would with 
knowledge of this reputed sharp contrast in distribution be inclined to call 
his symphycarpeous plant an example of the commoner species. But on the 
testimony of the writer's herbarium it is found that contrary to Tuckerman’s 
experience and that of some others, C. subcariosa (f. symphycarpia) is 
comparatively common and widely diffused, while the collection contains 
no specimen marked by others as C. symphycarpa not referable else- 
where, but two examples of that species as elucidated by Wainio, and only 
two attributable to it in a restricted Tuckermanian sense. 
A review of the European synonymy of C. symphycarpa Fr. scarcely 
aids to an understanding of the American plant, being curiously contradic- 
tory, To summarize the various opinions: Th. Fries makes C. pyxidata 
var. symphycarpa (Ach.) Nyl. a synonym of C. symphycarpa Fr. Coemans 
states that C. symphycarpa Ach. is scarcely to be applied to anything except 
a condition of C. cariosa. Th. Fries affirms that the Acharian species is a 
composite, one of the elements being C. cariosa. Wainio’s view is that the 
species belongs with C. cariosa corticata Wain., but he asserts that C. 
symphycarpia Ach. as interpreted by Floerke in herb, and illustrated in 
Arnolds leones No. 1485, to be C. alpicola v. Karelica Wain., and C. 
symphycarpa Fr. as published in the Friesian exsiccati is given a similar 
identity. If Wainio’s reference is warranted 1 and it is desired to know just 
what constitutes C. symphycarpa Fr., through the lack of any adequate 
diagnosis his description in the Monograph must be accepted. The follow- 
ing is an abbreviated rendering : 
C. alpicola (Flot.) Wain. var. Karelica Wain. 
Thallus persistent or subpersistent, of scattered or crowded medium 
sized (2-4 x 1-3 mm.) olivaceous squamules, the margins irregularly incised 
or incised-crenate; podetia 4-10 mm. in height, aggregated or solitary, 
suberect, ascyphiferous, subcylindrical or club-shaped, simple or sparsely 
furcate-divided, laterally entire or at length slightly fissured or sulcate, 
cortex sub-continuous or partly or wholly verrucose-areolate, the areola 
contiguous, esorediate and esquamulose, opaque or faintly shining, olivaceo- 
glaucescent or olivaceo-fuscescent; apothecia terminal, medium or large, 
confluent or conglomerate, convex immarginate and brown. KHO — 
A comparison of the foregoing description with that of Tuckerman’s 
Synopsis for C. symphycarpa Fr. will show very clearly, that if Tuckerman 
had in mind the plant of Wainio, he diagnosed it most imperfectly. Indeed 
it seems certain that his conception of C. syinphycarpa comprehended a 
greater degree of variability for the species than is conceded by others, or 
else granted relationship to it forms of much unlikeness. One of the 
numbers in the plate accompanying this note illustrates what Tuckerman 
calls the “ macrophylline state” of C. symphycarpa and portrays a plant 
differing in many particulars from C. alpicola Karelica. The earliest 
collected specimens of C. syjnphycarpa contained in the Tuckerman 
herbarium is credited to Ravenel, Santee Canal, S. C., 1864, The reaction 
