f . [ 1 3 4 9 ]
LEPRARIA alba.
White Lepraria.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algee.
Gen. Char. Seeds in a powdery substance loosely
clothing a thin crust.
Spec. Char. Crust and fructification of an uniform
pure white.
Syn. Lepraria alba. Achar. Meth. 3.
Lichen albus. Achar. Prod. 7. With. v. 4. 2. Relh.
444. Abbot. 256.
L. lacteus. Sibth. 316.
Byssus lactea. Linn. Sp. PL 1639. Huds. 609.
Hull. 308. Lightf. 1007.
B. candidissima, calcis instar muscos vestiens. Dill.
Muse. 2. t . l . f . 2.
F o u n d on the bark of old trees, or on Mosses, decayed
Lichens, and other cryptogamous plants, in shady moist situations,
more particularly in mountainous countries.
On small plants it forms irregular broken fragments, looking
as if a brush of white-wash had been shaken over them ;
on bark it grows in a continued, but indeterminate and shapeless,
crust, cracked when dry, clothed all over with a granulated
or powdery substance. In general the colour of the whole
is a pure opaque white j but at certain seasons, principally in
summer, the powdery part becomes brownish or yellowish.
We conceive this to be a state of temporary decay, after the
seeds are dispersed, rather than the ripening of the seeds ; for
the plant is most vigorous, and most easily parts with its granulated
particles, in the damps of winter.
The establishment of this genus seems indispensable. Botanists
have sought in vain for shields in this and other species,
to make them Lichens; and indeed they are evidently propafated
by their. powdery part. Whether that part consists of
uds or seeds, is too nice a question for us to determine. Of
the certainty and constancy of the species there is no doubt.
The true Byssi, if that genus be to remain at all, are of a
fibrous nature.