ALE 



ALE 



■a fmoky-brown ; branches capillary, compreffed at their 

 fubdivilions. Shields feffile, blackilh, with an entire mar- 

 gin ; at length convex and rugged. Warts tumid, pow- 

 dery, white. — Found on the trunks and branches of old 

 trees, efpecially of the fir kind, throughout Europe, from 

 Lapland to the Bithynian Olympus. ^. On pales, rocks, 

 and ftones. The ftiields are extremely rare. The older 

 fpecimens hang in long blackilh tufts, like the mane of a 

 horfe, from aged trees in mountain forefts ; the variety /3 

 grows proftrate and entangled. There is no central fibre, 

 tiie infide being hollow, or (lightly fpongy. White 

 pov.dery warts are frequent and confpicuous on the pendu- 

 lous variety, but thefe are not now confidered by Acharius 

 as having any fhare in the fruftification. The matter has 

 not been decided either way by fufficient experiments. 

 The learned author, whom we have juft named, reckons up 

 four more varieties, by the names of capillaris (which is 

 Lichen fet'iformis of Ehrhart) ; lanejlns ; carta (figured by 

 Weftring above cited, at his t. 14. f. B.) ; and fetacea. 

 Thefe we have not examined. The cana, which is hoary, 

 with pale flefli-coloured (hields, appears to have fome claims 

 to fpecific diftinftion. 



2. A. crinaiu. Mane Aleftoria. Achar. n. 2. Li- 



chenogr. 594. " Frond (lightly comprefTed.much branched, 



greyi(h, very brittle ; branches thread-fhaped, roundifli to- 

 wards the upper part. Shields ? convex, brown." — Found 

 often mixed with other filamentous Lichens, on the trunks 

 and branches of trees. Acharius. 



3. A. ufneoidcs. Flattened Aleftoria, Arabian Ufnea. 

 Achar. n. 3. (Parmelia ufneoides ; Achar. Meth. 270. 

 Lichen Ufnea; Linn. Mant. 131. Swartz Ind. Occ. 

 1912. Ufnea ceratoides candicans, glabra et odorata ; 

 Dill. Mufc. 71. t. 13. f. 14 ? and certainly t. 84. f. 10.) — 

 Frond comprelTed, flat, longitudinally ftriated, much 

 branched, pale and whitifh ; the branches fomewhat fibrous. 

 Shields flat, entire, of the lame colour. — On trees in warm 

 countries, in Aha, Africa, and America. Generally pen- 

 dulous, always fpreading, from fix to eighteen inches long, 

 linear, flat, cream-coloured, very fmooth to the touch ; fra- 

 grant and muflty when frelh ; eafily fplitting when old and 

 dry into two flat layers, expofing a pure white internal pow- 

 der. The JhidJs are very fmall. By age the whole becomes 

 of a dirty-bu(F colour. The Arabian phyficians ufed this 

 mofs as a cordial, and thought it alfo procured fleep. See 

 our n. 6. 



4. A. farmcntoja. Trailing Aleftoria. Achar. n. 4. 

 (Parmelia farmentofa ; Achar. Meth. 271. Lichen far- 

 mentofus ; Achar. Prodr. 180. New Stockh. Tranf. 

 V. 16. 212. t. 8. f. 2. Schrad. Journ. v. i. 83. t. 3. f. 4. 

 Engl. Bot.t. 2040. L. longiflimus, ex cinereo candicans, 

 rugofus et mollior, receptaculis florum rufefcentibus ; Mich. 

 Gen. 77. t. 39. f. 2. Ufnea loris longis dichotomis, extre- 

 mitatibus tenuioribus ; Dill. Mufc. 59. t. 11. f., 2. U. 

 dichotoma ; Hoffm. PL Lich. t. 72.) — Frond roundifh, 

 fomewhat angular and pitted, much branched, forked and 

 divaricated, whitilh ; ultimate branches capillary and lax. 

 Shields livid, rather concave, with a pale entire border. — 

 Native of mountainous trafts in various parts of Europe, 

 on trees or rocks. Mr. Borrer and Mr. Hooker met v.ith 

 it on the mountains of Invernefs-ihire in 1808. The/ro.-.'A 

 are of an ivory white, creeping, widely divaricated, fome- 

 times powdery, hollow ; their ultimate branches peculiarly 

 fine and numerous. Shields, communicated by Dr. Acha- 

 rius, fmall, with a greenifh flefh-coloured hollow diflc^ 

 finally becoming flattened and dilated. 



5. A. thraufa. Brittle Aleftoria. Achar. n. 5. 'Liche- 

 nogr. 506. — " Frond round, fomewhat comprelTed, branched, 

 Vol.. XXXLX. 



white; black at the bafe ; branches unequal, /igzag- 

 mniutely fibrous and fomewhat tendnl-Uke."— Native of 

 France and Switzerland. Acharius. 



6. A. arabum. Arabian AleCloria. Achar. n. 6. 

 Lichenogr. 596. (Ufnea ceratoides candicans, glabra et 

 odorata; Dill. Mufc. 71. t. 13. f. 14.)— Frond round, 

 fomewhat compreflbd, branched, white ; branches forked ; 



the ultimate ones pointed and curved Native of the Eaft 



Indies, St. Helena, and Madagafcar. ProfefTor Acharius 

 adopts this from Dillenius without examining a fpecimen, 

 confidering it a diftiinft fpecies from his ufneoides, n. 3, with 

 which other botanifts have confounded it. He relies alfo 

 on Dillenius for the prefent plant being the true Ufnea of tJie 

 Arabians. But as Dillenius confounded the two, and had no 

 authority for taking one more than the other for the Arabian 

 Ufnea, v/e cannot phce any reliance on him in this refptel. 

 How far the two plants, fo very fimilar in his figures, are 

 fpecifically diftinft, can only be known by an examination 

 of the fpecimen of his t. 13. f. 14. at Oxford. The other 

 is fufficiently well known, and was drawn by him from the 

 herbarium of Mr. Charles Du Bois. 



7. A. canarienf.s. Canary Aleftoria. Achar. n. 7. 

 (Ufnea dichotoma compreffa, fegmentis capillaceis tereti- 

 bus ; Dill. Mufc. 72. t. 13. f. 15. Mufcus arborcus au- 

 rantiacus, ftaminibus tenuiflimis, ex infulis Portunatis ; 

 Pluk. Alraag. 254. Phyt. t. 309. f. I.)— Frond eom- 

 pre(red, branched, orange-coloured ; branches finrply or 

 triply forked ; their ultimate fegments round and capillary. 

 — Native of the Canary iflands. Acharius adopts this 

 fpecies entirely from Dillenius, •efho defcribes it from a 

 fpan to a foot in length, comprefied, undivided in the lower 

 part, but in the upper copioufly and repeatedly branched ; 

 the branches occafionally three together, and their fummits 

 very fine. The whole is neither very rigid, nor foft, 

 fmoothifli, of a dull yellow inclining to red. It tinges the 

 faliva with a reddilh-orange colour, but has ao particular 

 fmell. 



ALEMBERT,tol. 4, 1. 28, for Memoires r. Membres. 



ALEPYRUM, in Botany, a, 'without, Xs^^ov, a bari,Jhell, 

 or covering, alluding to the want of corollaceous glumes, by 

 which this grnus is diftinguifhed from Devauxia of the 



fam.e author, to be defcribed in its proper place hereafter 



Brown Prodr. Nov. Holl. v. i. 253. — Clafs and order, 

 Monandria Polygynia. Nat. Ord. Rejliacex, Brown. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Sheath of two concave, keeled, perma- 

 nent valves, clafping each other at the bafe, containing one 

 or more flowers. Cor. none. Stam. Filament one, capil- 

 lary, drooping, about as long as the calyx ; anther fimple, 

 oval. Pifl. Germens feveral, from fix to eighteen, ovate- 

 oblong, fuperior, inferted into one fide of a central oblong 

 receptacle, and all turned one way ; ftyles as many, thread- 

 Ihaped, combined at the bottom, fpreading or deflexed at 

 the upper part ; ftigmas linear, dov.ny. Peric. Capfules 

 as many as the germens, membranous, oval, of one valve 

 and one cell, burfting longitudinally at one fide. Seed foli- 

 tary, obovate, pendulous. 



Eir. Ch. Sheath of two valves. Corolla none. Aether 

 fimple. Germens unilateral. Capfules burfting longitu- 

 dinally at one fide. Seed ("olitary. 



A genus of fmall herbaceous plants, nearly aUied to the 

 more numerous one of Devauxia, and, in Mr. Brown's own 

 opinion, fcarcely to be feparated therefrom, the wast of 

 petals in Alepyrum being the onJy difference. The thnfe 

 fpecies defcribed by this author are all natives of the fo.ith 

 coaft of New Holland, where he gathered them hirr.fe!f ; 

 nor do they appear to have been met with by ar.y other 

 botar.iil or colleAor. The roots arc fibrous. L:aves radi- 

 N n -al, 



