Flora Medica

GYROPHORA.a smoky brown-colour, lobed and erose at the margin, beneath subfibrilloseand paler. Shields rather convex, variously plaited. Thisand the following constitute a part of the Tripe de Roche, on whichtravellers in the Arctic regions of America have been forced to live incases of emergency. It is nutritious ; but mixed with a disagreeablebitterness, and productive of severe colic, and other distressing localcomplaints.1334. G. cylindrica Ach. syn. 65. Hooker B. F. ii. 218.Umbilicaria crinita Hoff. Lick. t. 44. (Dill muse. t. 29. f.116.)Common on mountain rocks.Thallus coriaceous, simple, or many-leaved, slightly wrinkled, darkbluish or greenish-grey, variously lobed and plaited, coarsely ciliated atthe margin, with black branched wiry bristles, beneath smooth, pale,with scattered branching fibres. Shields elevated, nearly plane, variouslyplaited.CETRARIA.Thallus foliaceous, cartilagineo-membranaceous, ascendingand spreading, lobed and laciniated, on each side smooth andnaked. Shields orbicular, obliquely adnate with the margin ofthe thallus, the lower portion being free, (not united with thethallus ;) the disk coloured, plano-concave, with a border formedof the thallus and inflexed.1335. C. islandica Ach. syn. 229. Hook. B. F. ii. 221.Lichen islandicus E. Bot. t. J 330. Woodv. t. 265. On theground in exposed situations in northern countries. (IcelandMoss.)Thallus erect, tufted, olive-brown, paler on one side, laciniated, channelledand dentato-ciliate, the fertile laciniae very broad. Shields brown,appressed, flat, with an elevated border. Notwithstanding the presenceof so large a quantity of bitter principle in this, that Sir John Franklinand his party could hardly eat it, although in a state approaching starvation,it is a favourite substance with some practitionersin affectionsof the pulmonary and digestive organs, particularly in phthisis, chroniccatarrh, dyspepsia and chronic dysentery. It is frequently given to sickpersons as an alimentary substance, the bitter having been first removedby washing in a weak alkaline solution. The aqueous decoction, ifmade sufficiently strong, forms a jelly when cold ;when flavoured witha little white wine it is an exceedingly pleasantdiet. Pereira.1336. C. nivalis Ach. syn. 228. Hooker B. F. ii. 221.Lichen nivalis Eng. Bot. t. 1994. Mountains in northerncountries.Thallus pale sulphur-coloured, orange at the base, erect, tufted,nearly plane, pitted and reticulated, laciniated, its segments multifid,crisped, crenato-dentate, divaricated, often warted at the point. Shieldspale flesh-colour, their border crenulated. Has similar propertiesto the last.BORRERA.Thallus cartilaginous, branched and laciniated, the segmentsfree, generally grooved beneath, the margins frequently ciliated.627 s s 2