The British species of angiocarpous lichens, elucidated by their sporidia / by W.A. Leighton.

  • Leighton, W. A. (William Allport), 1805-1889.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The British species of angiocarpous lichens, elucidated by their sporidia / by W.A. Leighton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    BRITISH SPECIES OP ANGIOCARPOUS LICHENS. INTRODUCTION. Every botanist is fully aAvare how valuable and avail- able a character is afforded by the form and external markings of the seeds in very many species of Phseno- gamous plants; the correct determination of the species frequently depending exclusively thereupon. Analogous reasoning leads us to the conclusion, that the form and septa of the sporidia in Cryptogamic plants would present similarly useful characters. Investigation proves the correctness of this conclusion. Owing, however, to the minuteness of the parts, the delicacy and care required in the manipulation, and the employment of high magnify- ing powers, these organs, in the family of the Lichens at least, do not seem to have hitherto received that attention which their importance really demands. This field of research, fertile though it actually is, may therefore be said to be comparatively a new and untrodden one, more especially as regards British Lichens, Lichenists have been, indeed, long aware of the existence and general conformation of these particular organs, but it is believed have never applied them to characterise or determine species. Acharius, in his ' Lichenographia Universalis' (1810), frequently mentions the asci and sporidia under the names of cellulae and vesiculas, but neither searches into
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