108 ORD. LI. Gramina. AVENA SATIVA. 
cultivated ; and in the northern parts of England, Scotland, Sweden, Siberia, 
and Norway, oats form the chief part of the vegetable diet of the inhabitants. 
In England, that which is called the potatoe oat is considered the best. 
Qualities, §c. Oats are inodorous, taste very slightly bitter; they are 
chiefly composed of fecula, or starch,* combined with a portion of saccharine 
matter, bitter principle, and fixed oil. ee found in the ashes of oats, 
phosphate of lime, and silica. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Oats can scarcely be considered as a medi- 
cine, but when freed from their cuticles, they are denominated grits, and are 
much used for making gruel or decoctions, which preparations are esteemed 
demulcent, cooling, and nutritive; hence they are much used in all inflam- 
matory and febrile diseases. The grits, ground to gross powder, and boiled 
in water to a proper consistence, form an excellent suppurative poultice. 
* For the chemical properties, &c. of starch, see Triticum Hybernum. 
ORD. LIV. ALGA. 
ROCCELLA TINCTORIA. DYERS’ LICHEN, ROCK-MOSS, OR 
3 ORCHAL. 
SYNONYMA.  Parmelia Roccella. Achar. Meth. Lich. 274. Lichen 
Roccella. Linn. Sp. Pl. 1622; Dicks. Crypt. fase. 3.19; Eng. Bot. v.3. 
¢. 211. Rocecella tinctoria. Achar. Lichenogr. Univ. 430 ; Syn. Lich.’ 
p.243 ; Hook. Br. Fl. p.458. Corraloides corniculatum fasciculare tine. 
etethii, fuci teretis facie. Dillen. Muse. 120. t.17. f. 39. 
Class. Cryptogamia. Ord. Algze. 
Nat. Ord. Algzw. Linn. Lichenes, Achar. 
