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LICHENS AS FOOD 405
20 cm. with irregular contorted lumps varying in size from a pea to a small
nut (Fig. 130). Externally these are clear brown or whitish; the interior
is white, and consists of branching interlaced
hyphae, with masses of calcium oxalate crystals,
averaging about 60 per cent, or more of the
whole substance.
A still more exhaustive account is given by
Visiani 1
, who
quotes the experience of a certain
Fig . . I30
~
Lecano a fscuicnta
General Jussuf, who had tested its value in the Eversm. Loose nodules of the
Sahara as food for his soldiers. When bread
was made from the lichen alone it was friable and without consistency ; when
mixed with a tenth portion of meal it was similar to the soldiers' ordinary
bread, and had something of the same taste. The General also it gave as
fodder to the horses, some of them being nourished with the lichen and
a mixture of barley for three weeks without showing any ill effects. It is
also said that camels, gazelles and other quadrupeds eat it with advantage,
though it is in any case a very defective food.
A remarkable deposit of the lichen occurred in recent times in Mesopotamia
during a violent storm of hail. After the hail had melted, the ground
was seen to be covered, and specimens were sent to Errera 2 for examination.
He identified it as Lecanora esculenta. In his opinion two kinds of manna
are alluded to in the Bible : in one case (Exodus xvi.) it is the sweet gum
exuded from the tamarisk that is described; the other kind (Numbers xi.),
refers to the lichen. He considers that its nutritive value
he thinks, plainly
must be very low, and it can only be valued as food in times of famine.
B. LICHENS AS MEDICINE
a. ANCIENT REMEDIES. An interesting note has been published by
Muller-Argau 3 which seems to trace back the medicinal use of lichens to
a very remote age. He tells us that Dr Schweinfurth, the distinguished
traveller, who made a journey through the valley of the Nile in 1864, sent
to him from Cairo a piece of lichen thallus found in a vase along with berries
of Juniperus excelsa and of Sapindus, with some other undetermined seeds.
The vase dated from the i8th Dynasty (1700 to 1600 B.C.), and the plants
contained in it must thus have lain undisturbed over 3000 years. The broken
pieces of the lichen thallus were fairly well preserved; they were extremely
soft and yellowish-white and almost entirely decorticate, but on the under
surfaces there remained a few black patches, which, on microscopical
examination, enabled Muller to identify them as scraps of Everniafurfuracea.
This lichen does not grow in Egypt, but it is still sold there along with
i Visiani 1867.
2 Errera 1893.
3 Muller-Argau 1881, p. 5*6.