L I C H E N om p h a lo d e s .
Purple Rock Pichen.
C R T P TO G A M I A Alge.
G en. Char. Male, fcattered warts.
Female, fmooth fhields or tubercles, in which the
feeds are imbedded.
Spec. Char. Imbricated; its fegments many-lobed,
fhining, dark purplifh brown, with white zig-zag
cracks ; black and very fhaggy beneath. Shields
dark chefnut.
S y n . Lichen omphalodes. Linn. Sp>. PI. 1609. Hudf.
532. Lightf. 818. With. v. 4. 34. Hull. 295.
Lichenoides faxatile tindtorium, foliis pilofis pur-
pureis. Dill, in Ran Syn. 74. Mufc. 185. t. 24.
ƒ. 80.
W E received this with thelaft defcribed from North Wales,
by favour of the Rev. Mr. Davies of Aber. It is altogether a
mountain fpeeies, and much more rare than L .fascatilis. The
high ftony moors of North Wales, Scotland, and Derbyfhire
abound with it, as Cromford Moor near Matlock, where I have
examined many hundred fpecimens without finding more than
2 or 3 fhields.
* It is generally diftindt enough from the preceding, and
known by its finer fegments, dark purplifh brown hue, polifhed
furface, not pitted, but full of tranfverfe zig-zag white cracks,
and deftitute of warty roughnefs. The under fide is more
thickly and univerfally fhaggy with coal-black hairs that pro*
je£l beyond the lateral edges of the fegments. The fhields have
grey edges, and a dark brown difk. Neverthelefs fome varieties
of L .faxatilis fo nearly approach this in every thing but colour,
that I'have, like Mr. Lightfoot, been often puzzled howto draw
the line of difcrimination.
L. omphalodes is fometimes called Cork or Archell, and is
ufed by the Highlanders and Welch to dye purplifh colours, a
well as L. tartareus, t. 136. It is prepared by foaking in
urine, till it foftens into a pafte, and is then dried in the Tun,