lich] 



Clje Crcagurg ai Mattmy. 



680 



borne, which are supposed to have the 

 power of impregnation. On these points 

 the memoirs of Tulasne and Lindsay must 

 be consulted by all who wish to have a com- 

 plete knowledge of the subject. Lichens, 

 perhaps, reach higher latitudes and alti- 

 tudes, and are capable of enduring greater 

 degrees of cold, than any other vegetables 

 except DiatomacecE. On the contrary, they 

 may be exposed to a burning sun without 

 injury ; and, though apparently dried up and 

 withered, they recover their proper appear- 

 ance with the first shower. Most of them 

 are essentially air-plants, but a few are 

 either constantly wet with spray, or totally 

 immersed. 



Lichens are divisible into two principal 

 sections, according to the nature of the 

 fruit, thus :— 



1. Angiocarpei : fruit contracted, like a 

 Sphceria. 



2. Gymnocarpei : fruit expanded, like a 

 Peziza. 



In each there is a distinct gelatinous or 

 collemaceous group ; and various natural 

 orders arise in either division from modifi- 

 cations of the fruit. 



Ny lander, who is perhaps the best modern 

 authority on Lichens, divides them into 

 three families, the vegetative element in 

 his arrangement prevailing, as the fructi- 

 ferous does in that of Acharius— Myrian- 

 giacei, Collemacei, and Lichenacei, of 

 which the two first are gelatinous. The 

 Lichens proper he divides as follows : — 



1. Epiconoidei: spores ultimately dust- 



ing the shields, as Calicium. 



2. Cladonioidei : lichens with a stem- 



shaped thallus, as Cennmyce. 



3. Ramalodei: lichens with a shrubby 



thallus, as Vsnea. 



4. Phyllodei : lichens with a leafy thal- 



lus, as Parmelia. 



5. Placodei : lichens with a crustaceous 



thallus, as Lecidea. 



6. Pyrenodei : lichens with capsule-like 



fruit. 

 Lichens are in some cases useful as 

 articles of food and medicine, but their 

 principal economical value consists in their 

 properties as dyes. [M. J. B.] 



LICHEN, CUP. Cenmm/ce pvxidata, also 

 called Cup-moss. — , HORSEHAIR. Cor- 

 nicularia jubata, also called Tree-hair. 



LICHEN COMESTIBLE. (Fr.) Lecanora 

 esculenta. — DES RENNES. Cenomyce 

 rangiferina. — D'ISLANDE. Cetraria is- 

 landica. 



LICHENOLOGY. That part of Botany 

 which treats of Lichens. 



LICHINA. A small genus of gelatinous 

 capsule-fruited lichens, remarkable for its 

 species growing on rocks exposed to the 

 spray or covered at high water. They were 

 in consequence formerly referred to Algce, 

 but their fructification is now well-known, 

 and agrees in essential points with that of 

 collemals. They are short-branched tufted 

 lichens, with terminal fruit, which opens 

 merely bv a terminal aperture without any 

 exposed disk. [M. J. B.] 



LICHWALE. Lithospermum officinale. 

 LICHWORT. Parietaria officinalis. 

 LICIET. (Fr.) Lycium. 



LICUALA. A genus of palms comprising 

 about a dozen species from India and the 

 Indian Archipelago. With the exception of 

 one New Guinea species, none exceed ten 

 or fifteen feet in height, some scarcely 

 having any stem at all, while others have 

 slender stems marked with circular scars or 

 rough with the hard bases of fallen leaves. 

 Their leaves are terminal and fan-shaped, 

 with prickly stalks, the prickles being coni- 

 cal or often hooked ; and their branching 

 flower-spikes, with numerous incomplete 

 spathes, stand almost erect, or hang down 

 from amongst the leaves. The flowers have 

 a cup-shaped three-cut calyx, and a three- 

 parted corolla, and are all perfect. 



L. acutifida yields the walking-sticks 

 known by the curious name of Penang 

 Lawyers. It is a native of the island of 

 Pulo-Penang, where it grows generally to 

 a height of about five feet, but occasionally 

 higher, its stems averaging about an inch 

 in diameter, except at the very base, where 

 they are considerably thicker. In order to 

 convert these stems into walking-sticks, 

 they are carefully scraped so as to remove 

 the rough outside portion, then straight- 

 ened by means of fire-heat, and afterwards 

 polished, but those brought to this country 

 come in an unpolished state. [A. S.] 



LID-FLOWER. Calyptranthes. 



LIEBERKUHNIA. A genus of Compo- 

 sitce, founded by Cassini on a Montevideo 

 plant, with the habit of Leria, and scarcely 

 sufficiently distinct from that genus. 



LIEBIGIA. A genus of Cyrtandracece 

 peculiar to Japan and the Moluccas, and 

 consisting of erector climbing shrubs, with 

 opposite equal or unequal serrated leaves, 

 and axillary peduncles bearing fine vio- 

 let-coloured flowers. The calyx is tubular, 

 four to five-cleft, the corolla funnel-shaped, 

 the stamens four, two of them sterile, and 

 the capsule elongated, pod-like, two-valved, 

 and falsely four-celled. [B. S.] 



LIEGE. (Fr.) Quercus Suber. 



LIERRE. (Fr.) Hedera Helix. -DE 

 COPENHAGEN or D'ETE. Senecio milca- 

 nioides, sometimes called Delairea scandens. 

 — GRIMPANT. Hedera Helix. — TER- 

 RESTRE. Nepeta Glechoma. 



LIF, LIEF, LOOF. Names for the fibre 

 by which the petioles of the date-palm are 

 bound together. 



LIFF, or LOUF. Luffa acutangula and 

 aigyptiaca. 



LIGEA. One of the genera of Podoste- 

 macece, consisting of aquatic herbs, natives 

 of Guiana. According to M. Tulasne, the able 

 investigator of these humble plants, the 

 species have larger stems than is usual in 

 this order, these stems being either single, 

 or tufted and curiously wavy, and the 

 leaves alternate in two rows, decurrent, 

 and of various shapes. The flowers are 



