WILD FLOWEES OF NOVEMBEB. 



(CONTINUED.) 



^^\XV\^/W/NX\/''^N^Ny'\/'W/V\/'V^VS. 



CHAP. XXVII. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE LICHENS THEIR ASPECT ON ROCKS 

 AND RUINS EFFECT OF MOISTURE ON THEM, AND 

 THEIR GENERAL ECONOMY CHARACTERISTIC NOTICES 

 OF THE DIFFERENT FAMILIES EXCURSIONS TO THE 

 ROCKS WHERE THEY ABOUND. 



' We came to the hall of the king where it rose in the midst of 

 rocks ; rocks, on whose dark sides were the marks of streams 

 of old. Broad oaks bend around with their moss." OSSIAN. 



" This black den which rocks emboss, 

 Overgrown with eldest moss." 



GEORGE WITHER. 



THE most unbotanical observer cannot but have 

 noticed whenever he has passed a grove of ancient 

 trees, or even a shrubbery of modern times, that many 

 of the branches are grey, bearded, and overgrown with 

 what, on a mere cursory glance, would appear to be 

 moss, and so it has been denominated, not only by 

 poets, as in the quotation of OSSIAN above, but even 

 by the older botanists themselves, as may be seen by 

 reference to old G-EBABD' s description of the " moss of 

 the oak," in his well-known ponderous herbal. The 

 grey and bearded aspect above alluded to, is caused by 

 a tribe of plants denominated LICHENS, which hitherto 

 have escaped our notice. But though a careless 

 observer may confound the moss and the lichen, the 



