400 



ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL 



present a hoary appearance from the minute particles of lichen with which 

 they are covered, so that the structure is not unlike the podetium of a 

 Cladonia. 



c. Food for the Higher Animals. It has been affirmed, especially 

 by Henneguy, that many lichens, if deprived of the bitter principle they 

 contain, by soaking in water, or with the addition of sodium or potassium 

 carbonate, might be used with advantage as fodder for animals. He cites as 

 examples of such, Lobaria pulmonaria, Evernia prunastri, Ramalina fraxinea, 

 R. farinacea, and R. fastigiata, all of which grow abundantly on trees, and 

 owe their nutritive quality to the presence of lichenin, a carbohydrate allied 

 to starch. 



Fig. 127. Cladonia ranglferina Web. (S. H., Photo.). 



Cladonia rangiferina (Fig. 127), the well-known "reindeer moss," is, 

 however, the lichen of most e conoinic imprirtgnce,. as food for reindee r, 

 cattle, etc. It is a social plant and forms dense tufts and swards of slender, 

 much branched, hollow stalks of a greenish-grey colour which may reach 

 a height of twelve inches or even more; the stalks decay slowly at the base 

 as they increase at the apex, so that very great length is never attained. 

 In normal conditions they neither wither nor die, and growth continues 

 indefinitely. It is comparatively rare in the northern or hilly regions of the 

 British Isles, and is frequently confused with the somewhat smaller species 

 CI. sylvatica which is very common on our moorlands, a species which ZopP 

 tells us reindeer absolutely refuse to eat. 



1 Zopf 1907, p. 372. 



