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L E P R ARIA Iolithus.
Violet-scented Lepraria.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algoe.
Gen. Char. Seeds in a powdery substance, loosely
clothing a membranous or fibrous crust.
Spec. Char. Crust filmy, greyish. Fructification red,
extremely minute, in a th in , even, powdery layer.
S yn. Lepraria Iolithus. A ch .M e th .8 . Turn. & Borr.
hick. Bril, v 1. 19-
L . rubens. Ach. Meth. 6.
Byssus Iolithus. Linn. Sp. PI. 1638. Lapland Tour,
v. 1. 26. Huds. 608. Hull. 308.
Lichen Iolithus. With. v. 4. 3. Ach. Prod. 11.
X OR this specimen, produced on the bark of a tree, we are
obliged to Mr. Turner. We have received several from Holy-
well in Flintshire, as well as from Tunbridge, growing on stones
in damp places, of what is presumed to be the same, though of a
less powdery and more crustaceous appearance. Both are of the
same dull crimson hue, and when moist diffuse a fragrant smell,
like violets, or more resembling orris root. This scent is equally
strong after the specimens have been long preserved, whenever
they are wetted. We have picked up on the shore at Leith
quartz pebbles encrusted with the same red substance, but exhaling
rather more of a sea-weed odour, still partaking of the
orris. How far these are distinct, botanists have not well determined.
The present plant has been confounded, as Mr.
Turner observes, with our Conferva lichenicola, t. 1609, which
is abundantly distinguishable hy its fibrous jointed texture.
It is no wonder that stones apparently stained With blood, as
the above seem to be, should have been made subservient to
many a legend in superstitious times. Those at Holywell are
supposed to have been sprinkled with the blood of St, Winifred.