\ 



144 ERYTHEA. 



short thick little stems of the form of pedicels, bringing forth 

 in the month of May stellate capitula. Lichen is in taste 

 somewhat bitter." A figure is added, representing the female 

 form of Marchantia polymorpha, 



Matthiolus, in his Commentary on Dioscorides* does little 

 or nothing to advance our knowledge of "Lichen/' But he 

 gives a large figure of a fruiting Marchantia, covering nearly 

 two-thirds of a quarto page. 



Lobelius, ® a few years later, offers a description which seems 

 to be quite original as to the wording, though it differs little 

 in essentials from those of his earlier contemporaries. His 

 figures, however, excel in representing three forms of Mar- 

 chantia, whereas, heretofore, we have seen but one. The lar- 

 gest of his illustrations is much like that of Matthiolus 

 though not an exact copy; another represents a form of the 

 fruiting plant with short and broad lobes, while the third 

 stows the peltate androecia of the male Marchantia. The 

 three figures are not accompanied by uumbei^s or distinctive 

 appellations of any kind, and there is nothing in the text to 

 indicate that the author recognized three species, yet it seems 

 fair to presume that he looked ui)on them as distinct and a.sso- 

 ciated them in a sort of generic way under the heading, 

 ''Lichen, Hepatica." 



Dodonseus® devotes a short chapter to Lichen, adding 

 nothing to the existing knowledge. He presents a single fig- 

 ure of a fruiting Marchantia, evidently printed from the same 

 block as the Tprgest of LobePs. 



In the second volume of the *'New und Vollkommen Krauter- 

 buch"^ of Tabernremontanus, we find a little more than a page 

 in regard to "Leberkr.iut." The description is modelled after 



4MattMolus, Commeutarii in sex libroa Pedacii Diovscoridis, p. 1038; 

 Venice, 1565. Original edition, 1554 



5Lobelius, Plantarum sen Stirpiura Historia, p. 646; Antwerp, 1576. 



^Stirpium Historiae Pemptades Sex, p. 470; Antwerp, 1583* 



^ Das Ander Buch, p. 491. The 1625 edition (Frankfort-on-Main) re- 

 vised by Caspar Bauhin was the one seen. "I)as Ander Buch" was 

 added by Nicolaus Braun after the death of Tabernremontanus. This 

 second volume first appeared, according to Pritzel, in 1591. 



