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Show g8 The Hiflory of p L A N T S. 3• p lac odium lobatum hifpidum. Hairy, lobated P lacodzum. This fl ecies has fomewhat of the appearance of the platyfma, but it's divifio~s are all fixed do!n at the edges by cirri, and it's braetere are of t~e form of thofe of this genus. It rows to two or three inches in length, and as much m breadth! .hut :arely extends itfe1f in a regularly circular form. It con fills of a kind of leave.s, divided mto a nm_nber of narrow and oblong lobes, obtufe at their ends, of a pale blUI!h colour, and furmfhed all round with long cirri, by means of which they are affixed down to ~hatever they row u on. The ramifications are, in general, fomewhat convex on theJr upper fi~e, ~nd ho8ow underneath; and, thofe of feveral plants, whic? fiand near one .another, mtangling together, there is often met with a cr~fi of this Mofs, extendmg to a vafi: breadth. The cirri are fometimes black, fomettmes grey, and, though they fix down the divifions of the leaves, they do not pull them clofe to the fubfiance they ~row on. The braClere are very frequent on this fpecies; they gro":"' both from the mtddle and edges of the leaves; they ftand on moderately l?ng pedicles, and ar~ hollow at ?rfi, but, afterwards, plain; their middle is black.' their ~dge grey, and this edge, or hmb, is fometimes dentated and prominent, fometimes plam; and even fome of thefe pla?ts are found full of little, verrucofe. protuberances; . th~fe are .of the fame colour with the leaves, and, when cut open, are fungous wtthm. It IS fi·eque~1t on trees and bullies. The common floe-trees about London afford a great deal of It, an? old ~ates and pales are frequently, in a manner, covered wi.th it. Moft of the botamcal wnters have mentioned this fpecies. Columna has it under th.e v~ry lon.g name of wJ.awo?TuxvoJ'xcruq; uJ.>-.o~ ; Cafpar Bauhine calls it Mu[cus arb?re~s capitults cav.Is ; M~rret, Mufcus arboreus umbilicatus . Tournefort, Lichen lattfolms, ramofus, mmor, hufutus; and Morifon, Mufcofungds arboreus, cinereus, fcu~ellatus, marginibus pilofis. Columna has defcribed it very perfectly ; the reft are defictent. 4· P lac odium durius candidum. PJ7hite, hard P lacodium. This is the hardeft of all the Placodire, but it crumbles to powder, like the reft, if rubbed forcibly between the fingers. . It ~rows in ~n ~rregular form, ~xtending to an inch or more in length, and as much m diameter: It IS n:-oderately thick, a~d merely granular, having nothing foliaceous .ab?ut it's. edges. It IS _ufually cracked m feveral places, and is often covered almoft murely wah a grey, fannaceous matter. Among this appear the hractere, which are fr~all, convex, and of a black c?lour. It grows on rocks in Wales and Scotland, and IS called, by the country people, Cork, Corker, and K.enkerig. The Scotch, and fome others, have a way of dying fcarlet with it. they prepare the dye by fieeping. it ~n urine, much as our orfelle-makers do that from the orfella, or canary-weed. It IS htghly probable that many other of thefe crufiaceous and tophaceous plants would do the fame. The fpecies of Placodium, befide thefe, ave, in nature, a gr~at ~any, in authors more: Micheli has not given much lefs than a hundred, and D11lenms yet more. A great many of the figures of both thefe authors, however, give us only the different appearances of the fame plant, under the names of different fpecies. The more fingular ones, befide the(e, are, I. The lineated, crufted Placodium, in which fomewhat like charaCters are feen. 2. The pale, crufiy Placodium, with brown braetere. 3. The yellow, lineated Placodium. 4· The Placodium with red tub~rcles. 5· The large~' braCteated Placodium, or crab's-eye Placodium. 6. The black, fpangled, leprous Placodium. 7· The areolated, grey Placodium. 8. The lobated, gelatinous SeaPlacodiUin. 9· The curled, gelatinous Sea-Placodium. 10. The opuntioide, gelatinous Pb.codium. I r. The tran{parent, endive-leaved Placodium. 12. The common, blue, curled Placodium. I 3. The. common, yellow, curled Placodium. r 4· The greyifl1-brown, tree Placodium, black underueatb. I 5· The blunt-horned Placodium. 16. The grey, flat, black-haired Placodium, " L l J M 0 SSE ~)', ) T!Je Hijlory of P L A N T s. 99 MOSSES. . Clqfs tbe Fifth. Such as produce capfules covered with opercula. Genus tbe Fhfl. B R Y U M. B R Y U M is a genus of Moffes, confilling of a fialk furniihed with leaves or . of a ~lufier of leaves,. :ifing im.mediately from the root; and producing a fep;rate pedicle, ~Hh a capfule on It .s (umm1t, covered with a fmooth operculum, or cplyptra, of a come figure,. and contammg a fine powder: the pedicle arifing either fi-om the ~enter of the radical leaves, or fr?m the fummit of the plant, or of it's branches, or, finally, from what was the fummit of the plant or branches of the laft year, and being fomewhat tuberofe at the bafe, and not furrounded with any particular involucrum. The fmoothnefs ~f t~1e calyptra difiinguilhes the Bryum from the polytrichum, and the want of a P.ecuhar mvolucrum at the b?t~om ?f t_he pedicles, as alfo their growing from th.e fummlts only of the branches, difimgmlh It from the hypnum. Linnreus, attemptmg to range the Brya according to their fructifications, makes the cylindric figure of the capfule a part of the charaCter; but this is erroneous for many of the fpe~ies have it quite. round, or globular; fome oval, fome flatted, ~nd fome falcated. This author, according to the doctr~ne of Micheli, alfo fuppofes thefe capfuJes to be the antherre, or. receptacles of. a.fanna frecundans, and, confequently, to be the male part of the fi·ucbficauon : but It IS wonderful that he was not convinced of the mifiake of Micheli in this, b~ ob~erving, that, in neith~r this genus, that of the hypna, or any other that ~roduces ~h1s kmd of capfule, except m the polytrichum only, he could ever find any thmg that It was poffible to take for a female flower. To ~s the matter containe~ in thefe cap~ules appe~rs to be the true and perfeCt feeds of thefe little plants, and ~he farm~, or rr:aie Impregnatmg matter, to be lodged in antherre, arranged on th.e pyrami.dal .bodies! wh1ch wow fi·om the top of the capfule, under thecalyptra, and ~hich, meetmg m a pomt over It, form what he calls an acuminated operculum. The fpec1es of Bryum are ~xtremel~ n.umerous. Dillenius has £gured no lefs than fourfcore of th:m.: w~ !hall give defcnptwns at large of four fpecies, which will exprefs all the vanatwns m the general £gure of thefe beautiful little plants; the reft wifl eafily be underfiood by one or other of thefe. I. Bryum acaulum calyptra quadrangulari. Tbe .ftalklifs Bryum, with a _/quare calyptra. . Thi~ fpeci~s is of the number of thofe which confill only of a clufier of leaves, anfing Imme.dtately from the root, with the pedicle. fupporting the capfule, growing from. the. mtdft of them. The ~dl: appearance of thts plant, in the beginning of winter, IS thi~: a clufier of leaves, eight, ten, or more, fpread themfelves every way from th~ roo~, m fo:m of a radiated fiar; ~hey are broad, and rounded at the bafe, and termmate 111 a pomt: they are perfettly {mooth and glo1Ty, and of a very pale green. Soon af~er the appearance o~ thefe, a fine ~bite pedicle, like a hair, is feen arifing from the mtdfi of them, and this, after fome tlme, fJ:ews ~ fquare calyptra on it's top, covering the rud~ments of. the capfule: the capfule, fame time after, grows to it's full fize, and the pedicles, whtch were at firfi white, now become reddilh and the leaves inftead of re~aining expanded in the figure of a rad iated fiar, coiled themfelvcs about the bafe of the pedicle, and form a f~rt of bulb there: the ~alyptra, at firft of a pale fl:raw colour, now becomes of a yellowiih green, and the pedicles, which before were erect ?end down, in form of a femicircle, or of a larger part of a circle. The calyptra be~ 1~g pulled off, t~e head_s are no~ fou?d to be of a pcar-fa!hioned lhape; they are not npe, howev~r, ull Apnl, at whtch time they are of a fine gold yellow colour, as are alfo the ped tcles. The capfules, when fully ripe, are fomewhat crooked, and the aperture, |
