Part 12

XC. _A Catalogue of the_ Fifty Plants _from_ Chelsea Garden, _presented to the_ Royal Society _by the worshipful Company of Apothecaries, for the Year 1757, pursuant to the Direction of Sir_ Hans Sloane, _Baronet, Med. Reg. & Soc. Reg. nuper Præses, by_ John Wilmer, _M. D. clariss. Societatis Pharmaceut._ Lond. _Socius, Hort._ Chelsean. _Præfectus & Prælector Botanic._

[Read April 20, 1758.]

1751 ALlium sylvestre latifolium. C. B. P. 74. Allium ursin. bifolium vernum sylvatic. J. B. 2. 565. 1752 Anacampseros flavo flore Amman. Ruth. 96. 1753 Anchusa strigosa, foliis linearibus dentatis, pedicellis bractea minoribus, calycibus fructiferis inflatis. Lefl. Linn. Sp. Plant. 133. 1754 Asplenium sive Ceterach. J. B. 3. 749. Offic. 121. 1755 Bidens calyce oblongo squamoso, feminibus radii corolla non decidua coronatis, Miller. Icon. 1756 Cactus repens decemangularis Lin. Sp. Pl. 467. 1757 Cerasus pumila Canadensis, oblongo angusto folio, fructu parvo, Du Hamel. Mill. Icons. 1758 Ceratocarpus Amæn. Acad. 1. p. 412. Hort. Ups. 281. 1759 Cotula flore luteo, radiato. Tourn. 495. Buphthalmum Cotulæ folio C. B. P. 134. 1760 Cracca minor Rivini. Vicia segetum cum filiquis plurimis hirsutis C. B. P. 345. 1761 Cucubalus calycibus subglobosis glabris reticulato-venosis, capsulis trilocularibus, corollis subnudis, Flor. suec. 360. 1762 Cucubalus calycibus subglobosis, caule ramoso patulo, foliis linearibus acutis, Mill. Dict. Lychnis sylvestris quæ Been album vulgo, foliis angustioribus et acutioribus C. B. P. 205. 1763 Cunonia floribus sessilibus, spathis maximis. Butner Cunonia, tab. 1. 1764 Cupressus foliis imbricatis frondibus ancipitibus. Linn. Spec. Plant. 1003. Cupressus nana Mariana fructu cæruleo parvo. Pluk. Mantiss. 61. 1765 Cyclamen Hederæ folio C. B. P. 308. Offic. 162. 1766 Diosma foliis lineari-lanceolatis subtus convexis, bifariam imbricatis. Linn. Sp. Plant. 198. 1767 Euonymoides Canadensis Saraz. Boerh. Ind. Alt. 237. 1768 Filipendula foliis ternatis Hort. Cliff. 191. 1769 Filipendula vulgaris, an Molon Plinii C. B. 163. Offic. 197. 1770 Heliotropium foliis ovato-lanceolatis, spicis plurimis confertis, caule fruticoso. Miller’s Icons. 1771 Hieracium fruticosum latifolium hirsutum C. B. P. 129. 1772 Hyoscyamus rubello flore. C. B. P. 169. Hyoscyamus Syriacus. Cam. Icon. 21. J. B. 3. 628. 1773 Hypericum floribus monogynis staminibus corolla longioribus, calycibus coloratis caule fruticoso. Miller’s Icons. 1774 Hypericum floribus trigynis, calycibus acutis, staminibus corolla brevioribus, caule fruticoso. Linn. Hort. Cliff. 380. Miller’s Icons. 1775 Iris corollis barbatis, germinibus trigonis, foliis ensiformibus longissimis, caule foliis longiore bifloro. Miller’s Icons. 1776 Isatis sativa, sive latifolia. C. B. P. 113. Glastum sativum. J. B. 2. 909. 1777 Juniperus vulgaris fruticosa C. B. 488. Off. 252. 1778 Ixia foliis gladiolatis linearibus caule bulbifero. Miller’s Icons. 1779 Ixia foliis gladiolatis glabris, floribus corymbosis terminalibus. Miller’s Icons. 1780 Larix C. B. 493. Officin. 264. 1781 Laserpitium foliis amplioribus, semine crispo. Tourn. 324. 1782 Linum calycibus capsulisque obtusis. _Sibirian Flax._ Miller’s Icons. 1783 Liriodendrum. Hort. Cliff. 223. Tulipifera arbor Virginiana. Hort. Lugd. Bat. 612. 1784 Oenanthe Apii folio C. B. P. 162. 1785 Passerina foliis linearibus. Hort. Cliff. 146. Sp. 1. 1786 Platanus Orientalis verus. Park. 1427. 1787 Platanus Occidentalis aut Virginiensis. Park. 1427. 1788 Platanus Orientalis Aceris folio. T. Cor. 41. 1789 Prenanthes foliis integris serratis scabris, radice repente, flore purpureo cæruleo. Mill. Dict. 1790 Ruta sylvestris linifolia; Hispanica Boccon. Barrel Icon. 1186 H. Mus. p. 2. 82. tab. 73. 1791 Saxifraga muscosa; trifido folio. Tourn. 1792 Scabiosa Virgæ Pastoris folio. C. B. P. 270. Scabiosa latifolia peregrina. Tabern. Icon. 160. 1793 Thalictrum majus, siliqua angulosa aut striata, C. B. P. 336. 1794 Thalictrum majus non striatum. C. B. P. 336. 1795 Thalictrum Canadense majus caulibus viridantibus. Boerhaav. 1796 Thalictrum Alpinum Aquilegiæ foliis. Tourn. 1797 Thalictrum minus Asphodeli radice magno flore. Tourn. 271. 1798 Thuya strobilis squarrosis squamis acuminatis reflexis. Hort. Upsal. 289. 1799 Tordylium Narbonense minus. Tourn. 320. 1800 Tridax. Hort. Cliff. 418. After American. procumbens, foliis laciniatis et hirsutis. Houston.

XCI. _An Historical Memoir concerning a Genus of Plants called_ Lichen, _by_ Micheli, Haller, _and_ Linnæus; _and comprehended by_ Dillenius _under the Terms_ Usnea, Coralloides, _and_ Lichenoides: _Tending principally to illustrate their several Uses. Communicated by_ Wm. Watson, _M. D. F.R.S._

----_Natura nihil frustra creaverit, posteros tamen tot inventuros utilitates ex_ Muscis _auguror, quot ex reliquis vegetabilibus_.

Cui bono? Amæn. Acad. III. p. 241.

[Read Apr. 27 & May 4, 1758.]

THE whole class of mosses were taken but very little notice of by the revivers of botany in the sixteenth century: they indeed took some pains to distinguish the particular species that the ancients had mentioned, but disregarded almost all the rest. Modern botanists however suppose, that they were but little successful in general in their application of the ancient names to plants: nor is a failure in such attempts to be wondered at, considering the too great conciseness, and frequent obscurity, of their descriptions. In the class of mosses, as in many others, the accounts transmitted to us are little more than a scene of uncertainty and confusion.

It is to the moderns we are indebted for the discovery of the far greater number of the plants of this class. In this branch of botany our own countrymen Mr. Ray, Buddle, Dale, Doody, Petiver, and Dr. Morison, Sherard, Richardson, and others, have distinguished themselves: and amongst foreigners M. Vaillant, Sig. Micheli, and the very eminent Dr. Haller: but, beyond all, the late learned and indefatigable professor at Oxford, Dr. Dillenius, has herein made the most ample discoveries and improvements, of which his elaborate history will ever remain a standing proof.

The word _lichen_ occurs in the writings of Dioscorides and Pliny; and tho’ it may be doubtful, there is nevertheless good reason to apprehend, that Dioscorides meant to describe under that name the very plant, or at least one of the same genus, to which the commentators agreed to affix his description. Since then the name has been variously applied by different authors; on which account it is necessary to premise, that the _lichen sive hepatica Off._ or liverwort of the shops, does not fall under this generical term, as it is now formed by the three above-named authors. They comprehend under the term _Lichen_, and Dillenius under those of _Usnea_, _Coralloides_, and _Lichenoides_, the hairy tree-moss or _usnea_ of the shops; the _muscus pulmonarius_, tree-lungwort, or oak-lungs; the _lichen terrestris cinereus_, or ash-coloured ground liverwort; the coralline-mosses; the cup-mosses; horned mosses; the _orchel_, or Canary-weed; the _muscus islandicus_ of Bartholine; and a multitude of others found upon trees, walls, rocks, and stones, in all parts of the world, and in many parts thereof in very great abundance.

Caspar Bauhine in his _Pinax_, John Bauhine, and countrymen Gerard and Parkinson, and their cotemporaries, as they wrote before the time that generical characters in botany were in use, included these lichens among the other herbaceous mosses, under the general name of _muscus_; adding to the name in general some epithet descriptive of its form, place of growth, or supposed virtue.

Mr. Ray, both in his History of Plants, and in the Supplement, as he was usually averse to the forming of new names, has interspersed them among other mosses, under the character of _musci steriles seu aspermi_, retaining the synonyms of the two Bauhines, Gerard, and Parkinson, to the general species.

Dr. Morison seems to have been the first, who separated them intirely from the herbaceous mosses; and, from the analogy he supposed they had with the fungus tribe, formed them into a genus, under the name of _musco-fungus_. He enumerates fifty species and upwards under this term in the _Historia Oxoniensis_, and has divided them into five orders, according to their different appearances, as follows:

1. _Musco-fungi e terra prominentes, latiores._ 5. 2. _Musco-fungi pixidati._ 11. 3. _Musco-fungi corniculati._ 26. 4. _Musco-fungi crustæ modo adnascentes._ 37. 5. _Musco-fungi corticibus arborum dependentes._ 53.

Table the 7th of his 15th section exhibits several good figures of some of these lichens.

Tournefort was the first, who adapted the generical term _lichen_ to them; but it was in consequence of his joining them to the lichen of the shops. He has however excluded the coralline-mosses, and forms them into a genus, by the name of _coralloides_; to which he has connected some plants, properly of the fungus tribe. In this distinction he is followed by Dr. Boerhaave in his _Index alter Plantarum_.

Dr. Dillenius first called them _lichenoides_, in the catalogue of plants growing about Giessen, chusing to retain the word _lichen_ to the liverwort of the shops. Under this name however, in this work, he does not comprehend the _usneæ_, or hairy tree-mosses, but refers them to the _conservæ_, adding the epithet _arborea_ to each species, to distinguish them from the water kinds. He enumerates upwards of sixty species of _lichenoides_, but has applied few or no synonyms to them.

Under the same generic term he has introduced them into the third edition of Ray’s Synopsis of British Plants, taking in the _usneæ_, and recounting upwards of ninety species, all found spontaneously growing in England. Many of these are undoubtedly only varieties. They are in this work very naturally divided into several orders and subdivisions, for the greater ease of distinguishing them, as follows:

_Lichenoides_

_caulifera_ 1. _Capillacea et non tubulosa scutellata._ 2. _Coralliformia tuberculosa plerumque._ a. _Solida et non tubulosa._ b. _Tubulosa._ 3. _Pyxidata._ 4. _Fungiformia._

_cauliculis destituta_ 1. _Mere crustacea._ 2. _Crusta foliosa scutellata seu foliis scutellatis arcte adnascentibus_ - a. _Substantiæ gelatinosæ._ b. _Substantiæ durioris._ 3. _Foliis magis liberis nec tam arcte adnascentibus_ a. _Scutellatis et tuberculatis._ b. _Peltatis._

M. Vaillant, in the _Botanicon Parisiense_, retains Tournefort’s names. Many of these lichens, as well as other mosses, are accurately represented in the elegant tables, which adorn that work. Dr. Haller tells us he learnt to distinguish almost all the mosses solely by the help of these tables, so well are they expressed. The lovers of botanic science are greatly indebted to Boerhaave for his publication of that work.

Micheli, after Tournefort, adopts the term _lichen_, and comprehends all the species under it, except one or two, which he calls _lichenoides_. This author however does not take into this genus the liverwort of the _materia medica_; he describes the species of that genus under the name of _marchantiæ_. Near twenty of the plates in his _Nova Plantarum Genera_ are taken up in representing various species of this genus. In this work they are divided into thirty-eight orders or subdivisions; a circumstance very necessary indeed, considering how greatly he has multiplied the number of the species. It is to be regretted, that so indefatigable an author, one whose genius particularly led him to scrutinize the minuter subjects of the science, should have been so solicitous to increase the number of species under all his genera: an error this, which tends to great confusion and embarassment, and must retard the progress and real improvement of the botanic science.

Dr. Haller retains Micheli’s term, and enumerates 160 kinds in his _Enumeratio Stirpium Helvetiæ_: he divides them into seven orders, according to the following titles:

1. _Lichenes corniculati & pixidati._ 2. _Lichenes coralloidei._ 3. _Lichenes fruticosi alii._ 4. _Lichenes pulmonarii._ 5. _Lichenes crustacei scutis floralibus ornati._ 6. _Lichenes scutellis ornati._ 7. _Lichenes crustacei non scutati._

The extensive number of the species, and the difficulty of distinguishing them with a tolerable degree of certainty, has deterred Dr. Haller from adding so full and complete a list of synonyms to the plants of this genus as he has elsewhere done in that splendid work. Plate the 2d exhibits several elegant sorts of these lichens.

Linnæus, and the followers of his method, who seem to have established their generical character from Micheli’s discoveries, retain also his generical title. Micheli’s passion for the multiplication of species is no-where more conspicuous than in the plants of this genus, which he has most enormously augmented to the number of 298 species. The Swedish professor cannot be charged with this foible: it is one of the excellencies of his writings, that they inculcate the reverse. He has so far retrenched this genus, that in his general enumeration of plants he recounts only eighty species belonging to it. They are in this work divided into eight orders, according to the difference of appearance which they form by their _facies externa_, little or no regard being had to what are usually called the parts of fructification.

1. _Lichenes leprosi tuberculati._ 2. _Lichenes leprosi scutellati._ 3. _Lichenes imbricati._ 4. _Lichenes foliacei._ 5. _Lichenes coriacei._ 6. _Lichenes scyphiferi._ 7. _Lichenes fructiculosi._ 8. _Lichenes filamentosi._

Dr. Dillenius, in his most elaborate work, intituled, _Historia Muscorum_, has divided this Michelian genus into three, under the names of _usnea_, _coralloides_, and _lichenoides_. Under the word _usnea_ he comprehends the hairy tree-mosses, among which are the _usnea_ of the shops, and the true _usnea_ of the Arabians. Of these he describes sixteen species. Under _coralloides_ he describes thirty-nine species, among which are the cup-mosses, and many others, disposed according to the following scheme:

Ordo I. _Fungiformia, non tubulosa, nec ramosa._ 5.

Ordo II. _Scyphiformia, tubulosa, simplicia et prolifera._

Series 1. _Scyphis perfectioribus._ 13. Cup-mosses. Series 2. _Scyphis imperfectis._ 20. Horned mosses.

Ordo III. _Ramosa fruticuli specie summitatibus acutis multifariam divisis._

Series 1. _Species tubulosæ._ 30. Tubulous coralline mosses. Series 2. _Species solidæ._ 39. Solid coralline mosses; among which is the _orchel_.

The genus of _lichenoides_ contains 135 species, disposed according to the following scheme:

Ordo I. _Species aphyllæ mere crustaceæ._ {1. _Tuberculosæ._ 8. {2. _Scutellatæ._ 18.

{1. _Gelatinosæ tuberculosæ et scutellatæ._ 35. Ordo II. _Species foliosæ._ {2. _Aridiores et exsuccæ, scutellatæ._ 100. {3. _Aridiores peltatæ et clypeatæ._ 121.

These plants are not only largely described, and accompanied with the most perfect assemblage of synonyms; but every species is accurately figured, and many of them in various views, and at different ages of their growth; by which this laborious work, notwithstanding it is conversant upon the minutest, and consequently the most abstruse parts of botany, may nevertheless be justly esteemed, without any exaggeration, one of the most complete works extant of the kind.

Dr. Hill, in his History of Plants, has disposed them into five genera, under the following names: 1. _Usnea_, comprehending the hairy tree-mosses; 2. _Platysma_, flat-branched tree-mosses, the lungwort, and others; 3. _Cladonia_, containing the orchel and coralline-mosses; 4. _Pyxidium_, the cup-mosses; 5. _Placodium_, the crustaceous mosses.

The plants of this extensive genus are very different in their form, manner of growing, and general appearance: on which account those authors, who preserve them under the same name, saw the propriety and necessity of arranging them into different orders and subdivisions, that the species might be distinguished with greater facility. Upon the same principle Dr. Dillenius and Dr. Hill have formed them into several genera.

So far as the parts of fructification are distinguishable in these plants, they appear in different forms upon different species: on some, in the form of tubercles; on others, in the form of little concave dishes, called _scutellæ_; on others, of oblong flat shields or pelts. All these are conceived by Micheli and Linnæus to be receptacles of male flowers. The female flowers and seeds are suspected by the same authors to be dispersed in the form of farina or dust upon the same plants, and in some instances on separate ones. Dillenius has not dared to determine any thing positively with regard to the real parts of fructification in these lichens: time will hereafter, it is to be hoped, throw more light upon the subject.

In order to convey a more distinct idea of the several plants of this genus, which enter into œconomical or medical uses in the various parts of the world, we shall distribute them into several orders, according to the custom of former writers: and as is not consistent with our plan to describe each of these species, we shall refer to the page of the more modern authors, where they may be found.

1. Lichenes filamentosi.

_Such as consist of mere solid filaments, of a firm and solid but flexible texture, having the appearance of fructification in the form of_ scutellæ, _or flat round bodies growing from the sides or extremities of these filaments_.

This order or division comprehends the hairy tree-mosses, or _usnea_ of Dillenius and Hill; several of the species of the fifth order of lichens of Micheli; and the _lichenes filamentosi_ of Linnæus.

Dr. Dillenius describes sixteen species under the term _usnea_, several of which are found in England, tho’ some of them, as the common _usnea_ of the shops, but very sparingly, and none of them in any considerable plenty. The thick woods in many other parts of Europe, and the rest of the globe, afford them in great plenty. They hang from the branches of various kinds of trees, like large tufts of hair, to a considerable length: some species grow several feet long. The rocks on the tops of high mountains afford several kinds. They are of various colours; some whitish, ash-coloured, others grey or blackish, and two or three species have a yellow or orange hue.

The commentators in general agreed in making the _bryon_ of[65] Dioscorides one of these hairy tree-mosses, which they called _usnea_. No wonder, therefore, that at the restoration of letters it became a matter of controversy, which of them was the _usnea_ of the ancients. Dioscorides recommends his as an astringent; and tells us, that “the best grew upon the cedar; but that from whatever tree it was gathered, the whitest and most fragrant was preferable to the black.” The several _usneæ_ would undoubtedly in different countries be found upon different trees. In Italy, that of the larch-tree was the most odoriferous; and on that account Matthiolus[66] preferred it to all others. That kind, which at length obtained a place in the shops as the _usnea_ of the ancients, was a species commonly found in our countries on old oaks and other trees, and is called by Dillenius[67] stringy tree-moss, or _usnea_ of the shops. Many excellent virtues have been ascribed to it, on a supposition of its being the true _usnea_; but it does not appear to have deserved them: and the present practice, at least in England, has quite expunged it, and that perhaps very justly.

Dr. Dillenius is evidently of opinion however, that this common _usnea_, tho’ it obtained a place in the shops as such, is not the _bryon_ of Dioscorides and Pliny, or the _phaseon_ of Theophrastus, since he has applied these names from those fathers of botany to another species, which he calls the _beard usnea_[68]. Nor does either of these species appear to be the true _usnea_ of the Arabians, whatever title they may seem to have to it, either from their colour or smell. Bellonius, as he is quoted by Dr. Dillenius, tells us, “that the true _usnea_, or _bryon_, as he calls it, is sold at Constantinople under the name of _usnech_; and tells us we are deceived in believing ours to be the true _usnea_.” Dillenius has therefore described another species[69], which he received from the East Indies, from Madagascar, and St. Helen’s, as the _Usnea Arabum_. This plant the Indians call _saliaga_; and Camelli assures us, that, while fresh, it has a very fragrant musk-smell. He adds, that he had himself experienced what Serapio says of it; _viz._ that a vinous infusion of it restrains fluxes, stops vomiting, strengthens the stomach, and induces sleep.

The common _usnea_ of the shops was said to be the basis of that fine perfumed powder, which the French called _corps de cypre gris_, and which formerly made a great article of trade at Montpelier. Dr. Brown hints[70], that the perfumers use it still; but he does not add, where. John Bauhine gives us the whole process[71] for making that power, which was vended in great quantities to all parts of France. It is nevertheless true, that other of the lichens had as great a share in the competition as the _usnea_; as the demand for that powder could not have been answered, if the makers had confined themselves to the _usnea_ alone. It was necessary too, inasmuch as other species are equally well adapted to the same uses[72].

This _usnea_ is abundantly plentiful in the woods of Lapland; and Linnæus[73] relates, that the inhabitants apply it to their feet, when they are sore and excoriated with much walking. The benefit they receive from it in this case is undoubtedly owing to its styptic quality, which is remarked by Matthiolus, and by Mr. Ray[74] from the German Ephemerides.

The _beard usnea_ before mentioned, which is abundantly common upon the trees both in the northern regions of Europe and America, as well as in the eastern kingdoms, and is described by Mr. Ray as hanging to the length of two feet, the filaments of which are not thicker than a common thread, and of a greenish white colour, is used by the inhabitants of Pensylvania to dye an orange colour with. This information Dillenius received from Mr. Bartram.

The black _mane usnea_, which grows in vast quantities in the Lapland woods, in a defect of the common coralline moss makes part of the fodder, and is equally acceptable to the rein-deer in the winter time[75].

The long beaded _usnea_, or necklace-moss[76], enters into the like œconomical uses in Virginia, where it is very plentiful. The inhabitants find it a very agreeable fodder in the winter season to both sheep and cows[77].