APOTHE'CIA (from the Greek teroVece, a case, a repository), in Botany, a name given to some of the organs of reproduction in Crypt°. gamin- In Lichens the reproductive matter appears on the surface of its frond or thallus in two forms. First, in the form of little coloured cups or lines with a hard click surrounded by a rim, and containing tubes filled with eporules ; and secondly, in the form of little heaps of pulverulent matter, which aro scattered over the surface of the thallus. These bet arc called Soredia ; the first, Apothecia. These organs form the principal means of distinguishing the various forms of lichens, and consequently it has been found convenient to indicate minorpoiuta in their structure by other names. Thus the A potheeiu ni, which in English is called a Shield, has various names according traits form : Scu.cllunt is a shield with an elevated rim ; Pcha, a flat shield ; Tulstroulunu., a convex shield ; Trim or Gyroma, is furrowed shield ;
Lirclla, a linear shield ; Global us, a round deciduous shield ; Paid ium, an orbicular hemispherical shield. The parts of time Apothecium or Shield have also obtained distinct names : thus Perilhccium is the inside of the shield, in which the sporules are immersed ; Hypothecium is the substance that surrounds or overlies the perithecium ; Nadeat is the clink of the shield, which contains the sporules and their cams ; and Aaci aro the tubes in which the spondee are contained.
Apollocia is also the name given to the cases in which the organs of reproduction of ninny of the Alum are contained. The reproductive granules contained in the Apothecia of both Lichens and Algal are called by sonic writers Gongyli.