156 GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF LICHENS. 



This species is the " dark crottle " of the Scottish 

 peasantry by whom it was used to dye woollen stuffs 

 brown. It was also used as an article of diet and in 

 the manufacture of a gum similar to gum-ar?bic. 



5. Parmelia saxatilis. Thallus medium to large, 

 lobes narrowed, terminal ones small ; upper surface 

 smooth, reticulately rugose, sometimes brownish, warty 

 (isidioid) outgrowths covering entire thallus, greenish- 

 gray ; lower surface black, with numerous black rhiz- 

 oids. Apothecia medium, sometimes wanting. Disk 

 brown. Spores typical, 11/x. X 9/x. 



This is the "Steu-laf" of Sweden and Norway, 

 where it was used to dye thread, yarn, etc., a brown or 

 reddish-brown color. In Scotland it is one of the 

 most common " crottles " and is also known as " Stane- 

 raw " or " Staney-rag." Not only do the peasantry 

 use it but it would appear upon the evidence of the 

 border ballads that the border fairies were dressed in 

 tunics dyed with this lichen. 



" Like the feld-elfin of the Saxons, the usual dress 

 of the fairies is green ; though on the moors they have 

 been sometimes observed in heath-brown, or in weeds 

 dyed with ' Stane-raw ' or ' lichen.' This lichen was 

 also used in medicine as an astringent; by the ancients 

 it appears to have enjoyed a celebrity as a sovereign 

 remedy for epilepsy and the plague." — Lindsay. 



6. Parmelia Borreri. Thallus large, lobes rounded, 

 with crenulate margin, bearing a few black cilia ; upper 

 surface bearing numerous warty (isidioid) outgrowths, 

 bluish-green color, no soralia ; lower surface light- 

 brown to whitish with black rhizoids. Apothecia 



