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Show S6 The Hiftory of P L A N T ~. it grows in thick forefis, .an~ is very corn.mon i1~ ~~r:many and P?land :. with us it is more rare. I have met With It, however, m prod1gwus abundance 10 Chadton~foreft in SufTex. . . r. • I · r • The botanical writers, in general, have defcnbed tht ~ Mo1s :. 1t ~as ong 10 u1e m the fhops, under the name of Ufnea. Gefner and Ruellms defcnbe 1t u~der the name of Mufcus arborum · Mufcus arboreus is alfo a name many have called 1t by. Aldrovand ca1ls it Anthel;s fagi, and Dilleniu~, in his Catalog~s .GifTenfis, Confe~·va. a~·borea cinerea. but in his Hifiory of the MofTes, he has called It Ufnea, and, very JUdJcwufiy, · eftablifues a genus under that name. M icheli calls it Li~hen ciner~us, longi~fi~~s, ba~batus receptaculis florum rufefcentibus coronatis ; and Lmnreus, ~H;:he.n rat?1s fihformJbus ramofis pendulis confertis, in his Flora Laponica: but. t~ IS M1chehan. genus of Lichen is much too large, and is efiablifhed on too v~gue prmctples. 2. Ufnea divaricata dura. · Hard, divaricated Ufnea. This fin gular fpecies of u fnea rarely grow: to more. than ? ve inc~l~S in .length. It rifes fingle from a fmall, fla ttilh bafe, but a 's ftern. Immedmtely di vides mto two or three part; and thefe, as they extend themfelves, diva ricate again and again in the fame mann~r; fo that, after the firft quarter of an IJ;lCh from the bafe, it is impoflible to fay which is the main fialk, or? indeed, that there is any fuch .. I t's bran~~es are of a rounded figure, gradually growmg fmaller as they approach thetr extremlt tes ; they are remarkably hard and rigid, feeling fomething like an iron wire to the touc!1 : notwithilanding that they branch out fo freely, the whole never forms a thick tuft, the divarications fall feveral ways, and leave the plant very loofe and open. The colour of the whole is a greenifh grey, where it thrives well; in other places it is brown i01, and often does not grow to rnuch more than an inch in length. It grows on old trees, and fometimes on pofts, and even on ftones. It n eith~r hangs down, as tho preceding Ufnea, nor fiands erect, as the following fpecies, but creeps every way upon the fubfiance it grows on, and often adheres :firmly to it. At the tops of the divarications there grow fcutellre, of an orbicular figu re, and greyi01 colour, fomewhat hollowed, and ornamented with a nu,mber of cirri, or fhort hairs, at their edges. It is a very fcarce fpecies, and the fcutell re are yet more rarely found upon it. I have met with it in the foreft of Dean in Gloucefied hire, but never faw any fcut ellre on it there ; in Northamptonihire, near Peterborough, I met with it on a rotten gate-poft, with fonr fcutellre on one plant. Many of \he late botanical writers have been acquainted with it: Merret, in his Pinax, calls it Mufcus caule rigido fi li infiar chalybei. Plukenct and Ray alfo diilinguii11 it by the fame na~e. Buxbaum calls it Lichen capillaceus fetre equin<I'! infiar rigidus, ex fufco virens : Celfius, Lichenoides caule rigido ~ and Dillenius, in his Catalogus GifTenfis, makes it a Conferva arborea ; but, in his Hifiory of the MofTes, he defcribes it under 'the name of Ufnea rigida horfum vorfum extenfa. 3· Ujizea ramofa cra.Jlior. nick-.branched Ufnea. This fpecie$ adheres to the tree on which it grows by a woody tubercle, often of confiderable thicknefs. From this bafe there rifes a fi ngle ftalk, of the thicknefs of a packthread ; this fends off, on every fide, a number of branches, and is itfelf continued to the very extr7mity, but lefTening in diameter all the way. Tbe whole plant is ufually about an ~ncb and half, or, at the utmo!l, a little more than two inches high, and the main ftalk, as well as the feveral branches it fends off, are furni{hed with a number of fibrils, like lhort hairs, all the way up, and both the main ftalk and thefe branches, t~rminate in fuch. The colour of the whole plant is a grey, fo~etimes with a cafl: of yellowiili. in it. At th e . extremities of it's branches fometimes, though rarely, there grow orbtcular fcutellre, hke thofe of the others; they are flat, a little hollowed, and of th~ breadth of a fix-pence, and are cirrated, or hairy, at their edges. It IS a very common fpecies, growing apundantly on almoft all our old trees. It ftands ereCt on th~m,. ~nd is fuHicie?tly robuft and rigid. I t is not very frequ ently, howev.er, found With Its fcutellre on .1t. It var~es extremely .in it's manner of growth, accordmg to the expofure> and quanhty of noun{hment fupphed it; and hence has been ' defcribed Tbe Hiflory of P L A N T S.; defcribed half a dozen times over by many of the late botanical writers under the names of fo many fpecies. It has been mentioned under the name of Mufcus arboreus floridus, by moft of the late authors. Cafpar Bauhine calls it Mufcus arboreus, cum orbiculis; J ohn Bauhine, Mufcus peltatus; Morifon, Mufcofungus arborum capillaceus. Micheli has evidently defcribed it three times, under the names of three different fpecies, in his No. 12, No. 39, &c. · 4· U)izea comprejfa. F !at-branched Ufoea. This is a moderately large and long fpecies. It grows to the trunks and branches of trees by a flat bafe, of the breadth of a filver penny, or thereabout; from this bafe there arifes ufually only one fialk, but fometimes more. The main fialk continues entire for about an inch from the bafe, after which it begins to divaricate into feveral branches; thefe all break again into others, fo that, from one main .fl:alk, the branches at the extremity are often forty or fifty. The whole plant is of a whitifh colour. It gt·ows to five or fix inches in length, and it's main fialk, as well as the feveral ramifications, are not round, but fomewhat flatted. The furface is perfeCtly fmooth, and fomewhat gloBy. The main fialk is feldom thicker than a packthread, and the ramifications terminate in fine and pointed capillaments. The branches do not run ftrait, as in many of the Ufnere, but are frequently very crooked, and, at the extremities, have been fuppofed to have fomewhat of a horned figure. It is not a native of England, nor, fo far as is known, of Europe; it is very common in the E aft Indies, where it has a very fragrant and perfumed fmell; but this is generally lofi, before the plant can be brought over to us. It grows on trees, and fometimes on old wood that has been wrbught. The Indians call it Sabgia. Camdli has defcribed it to Ray under the name of Mufcus arboreus candidus et odorifer, in which name it fiands in his Hiflory. Bellonius calls it Bryon, and tells us it is fold at Conftantinople, where it is called Ufi1eck, and laughs at thofe who fuppofe our Ufnea the Ufnea of the Arabians. The other fpecies of the Ufnea defcribed by authors are, I. Micheli's dichotomous kind, with fine points. 2. The dichotomous Ufnea, with thicker points. 3· The finer and longer Ufnea, with the weak bark: the cortical part of this is apt to crack ahnularly, and the fegments of it then refemble the beads flrung on a necklace. 4· The flat-branched Ufnea. 5· The bearded, finer Ufnea. 6. The black, jubated Ufnea. 7· The hard, woolly, black Ufnea. 8. The black, tufted Ufnea. 9· The horfe-hair Ufi1ea. 10. The fmall, grey, branched Ufnea. 1 1. The orange~coloured, forked U1i1ea. 1 2 • T he yellow, rigid Ufnea. 13· The white, fmooth, fweet Ufnea. The three new fpecies are, 1. A yellow, fhort, foft, and extremely-branched one. 2. A yellowi{h, very long, r~gid~ and firingy one: both thefe are found in Ch a rlto?-for~£1:; and, 3. A brown, dtvancated, and very bulhy one, found near Mount Sorrel m Le1ceficr01ire. The Ufnere have the fortune to be more in credit, as medicines, than the Mofles of any other genus; there are no lefs than three fpecies celebrated by medical writers for their virtues. The Ufnea villofa implicata, firfi defcribed, has been greatly celebrated as an a!lringent, and prefcribed in diarrhreas, dyfenteries, and hremorrhages. Sachfius recommends it's powder extremely as a fiyptic, and Linnreus tells us, that the Laplanders ufe it to their feet, when they are fore with much walking. Many other virtues have alfo been attributed to it, but this has been through the error of fuppofing it the fame with the Ufnea of the Arabians, or the fpecics laft defcribed here. Mr Ray recommends the Ufnea ramofa craffior, boiled in ale, againft defluxions of all kinds, and tells us, that it was alfo ufed in powder for the chin~cough, and all other inveterate coughs. The Ufnea compreifa is the true Ufilea of the Arabians, and has long retained it's place in the catalogues of the materia medica; but the .firfi fpecies or in defect of that, any tree Mofs, that came mo.fi: readily to hand, was ufed in it's piace~ Camelli aifures us, that the genuine Mofs is, when frelh, of a very fragrant fmell. It is ufcd as a perfume at this time by the Turks, and fiands recommended as a cordial by the Arabian writers. M 0 SSE S~ |