1832 



ARBORETUiM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART 111. 



quently found on the oak in the neighbourhood of Vienna, and is supposed 

 by some to be the mistletoe of the druids. (See our art. Fiscuni, p. IQ21.) 



The principal Lichens that are found on tiie oak are what are vulgarly called 

 the lungs of the oak, and its moss. The lichens sold under the name of the lungs 

 of the oak are, Sticta pulmonacea ami S. scrobiculata; ^^^ 



and they are still much in demand in Covent Garden 

 market, and other places, as a cure for consumption, 

 and all disorders of the chest. S. pulmonacea Ach., 

 syn. Lichen pulmonarius Sow. Eng. Bot., t. 572., 

 and o\xr Jig. I(ij9., is most plentiful in the northern 

 or mountainous countries, where it clothes the trunks 

 of old oaks " with a rich leafy garment. The fronds 

 grow a little imbricate, but are considerably raised 

 from the bark, into which their leaves are inserted. 

 They are leathery, green, deeply divided, irregularly and bluntly lobed, strongly 

 pitted ; tiie interstices forming a kind of network, which, towards the margin 

 of the frond, is powdery or woolly." The under side is downy, blistered, and 

 pale, with a corresponding network of brown veins. The shields are, "for the 

 most part, marginal, but not always : they are nearly sessile, flat, chestnut- 

 coloured, with an elevated, smooth, green border. They are found at all times 

 of the year, and in tolerable plenty." {Eng. Bot., t. 572.) A decoction of 

 this lichen is used with milk, to cure all diseases of the lungs. It is bitter, 

 astringent, and mucilaginous, and promotes expectoration. It was first em- 

 ployed to cure coughs, 8owerby tells us, because its figure resembled that 

 of the lungs. It is supposed to possess nearly the same properties as the 

 celebrated Iceland moss (Cetraria islandica Ach.). The 

 name of Sticta (that is, dotted) was given to this genus 

 from the numerous little pits that are found on the 

 under surface of the fronds. S. scrobiculata Jc/^., syn. 

 Z/ichen scrobiculiitus Sow. Eng. Bot., t. 497., and our 

 J?g. 1660., is found on the trunks of oaks in the 

 mountainous parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 

 but not frequently. " The fronds spread loosely over 

 each other, and are rather leafy than coriaceous, cut 

 into round lobes, and obtusely notched. Their upper 

 side is glaucous, full of irregular pits, smooth towards the base or centre ; but 

 towards the margin they are sprinkled with grey mealy warts. The under 

 side is downy, brown, paler towards the edge, and spotted all over with 

 irregular bare white spots. The shields are so rare, that Dillenius never saw 

 them, but copied them from Micheli, in whose figure (t. 49.) they are drawn 

 without any margin. After the examination of manv hundred specimens," 

 continues Sowerby, " we have found only two in 

 fructification. In these the shields are about the 

 size of mustard seed, of a tawny brown, flat, with 

 an elevated, inflcxed, downy (not mealy) margin, 

 of the colour of the frond." {Eng. Bot., t. 497.) 

 The lichen figured by Gerard, as the " oke and 

 his mosse," is U'snea plicata Ach. : syn. Lichen 

 pliciitus Lin.Sp.Pl., 1622., Sow., Eng. Bot., t.257., 

 and our Jig. 1661.; ilfuscus arboreus. Sec, Raii 

 Syn.., 64. ; U'snea vulgaris, &c.. Dill. Muse, 56. 

 1. 11. f. 1. ; Usnee, Fr. " The whole plant is from 

 I ft. to 2 ft., or even more, in length, forming a 

 thick entangled mass of branching fibres, which A". \:L,'rui-y-(-^ 

 are cylindrical, all more or less divaricated and 'i'^^'^'A^'^'^^ 

 undulated, none of them straight. They are of ' /r 

 a uniform greenish freestone colour ; the surface '' 



very smooth at first, but in the older parts rough with minute warts, supposed 

 to be the male flowers. The main stems often crack here and there, discover- 



