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L I C H E N islandicus.
Iceland Lichen.
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CRYPTOGAMIA Algae.
G en. Ch a r . Male, scattered warts. Female, smooth
shields or tubercles, in which the seeds are imbedded.
S pec. Ch a r . Leafy, membranous, ascending, laciniated,
channelled and fringed, greenish chesnut-coloured.
Shields sessile, flat, of the same colour.
Syn. Lichen islandicus. Linn. Sp. Pl. 1611. Achar.
Prod. 1 7 0 . Huds. 539. With. v. 4. 5 4 . Hull. 296.
Light/. 829. Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 205. Jacq.
Coll. v. 4. 253. t. 8. / . 1 .
Lichenoides rigidum, eryngii folia referens. Raii
Syn. 7 7 . Dill. Muse. 209. t. 2 8 .ƒ 1 1 1 .
L. islandicum. Hoffm. PI. Lich. t. 9. f 1.
Cetraria islandica. Achar. Melh. 293.
A NATIVE of mountainous heaths and woods in the alpine
parts of Britain. We have gathered it on thé Pentland hills
near Edinburgh, Ben Lomond, &c. and have received it from
Durham, but have been obliged to draw the fructification from
foreign specimens. On the Alps the shields more frequently
occur, and the whole plant is more luxuriant, than with us.
The fronds form loose elastic tufts, often intermixed with
moss and other plants. They are channelled in the lower part,
ddated and elegantly divided and lobed above j the margin regularly
fringed. Colour a rich chesnut brown, rather shining,
with a green tinge when wet: the under side paler, and the
whole plant pale in the shade. The bottom sometimes turns
very redi perhaps from some alkaline substance falling on it.
The shields are dark chesnut, polished, flat, without any border,
growing close to the upper surface of the frond near the
summit.
This Lichen abounds with nutritious mucilage, and is become
a fashionable medicine in coughs and consumptions. It
is previously infused in water to extract its purgative bitter
quality. See Woodville for a full account of its use.