. An encyclopædia of gardening; . erbage fails. The lichen islandicus is eatenby the Icelanders instead of bread, or used inthe preparation of broths, and like the lichenpulmonarius, has been lately found to be bene-ficial in consumptive affections. Many of themare also employed in the preparation of some ofour finest dyes, or pigments; and it is from thelichen parellus that the chemical analysist ob-tains his litmus. The lichens and the noossesseem instituted by nature to provide for the uni-versal diflusion of vegetable life over the wholesurface of the ten-estrial globe. The powderyand tube
. An encyclopædia of gardening; . erbage fails. The lichen islandicus is eatenby the Icelanders instead of bread, or used inthe preparation of broths, and like the lichenpulmonarius, has been lately found to be bene-ficial in consumptive affections. Many of themare also employed in the preparation of some ofour finest dyes, or pigments; and it is from thelichen parellus that the chemical analysist ob-tains his litmus. The lichens and the noossesseem instituted by nature to provide for the uni-versal diflusion of vegetable life over the wholesurface of the ten-estrial globe. The powderyand tuberculous lichens attach themselves evento the ])are and solid rock. Having reachedthe maturity of their species, they die and are converted into a fine earth, which forms asoil for the leathery lichens. These again decay and moulder into dust in their turn ;and the depth of soil, which is thus augmented, is now capable of nourishing and support-ing other tribes of vegetables. The seeds of the mosses lodge in it, and spring up into. H2 SCIENCE OF GARDENING. Part II. plants, augmenting also by their decay the quantity of soil, and preparing it for the sup-port of plants of a more luxuriant growth, so that in the revolution of ages even the surface of the barren rock is covered with a soil capable of supporting the loftiest trees. SuBSECT. 5. Fungi. 603. The fungi are a tribe of plants whose herbage is a frond of a fleshy or pulj)i/ texture,quick in its growth, and fugacious in its duration, and bearing seeds or gems in an appro-priate and exposed membrane, or containing them interspersed throughout its mass. Butthis rule is not without its exceptions; for many of the fungi are converted, during theprocess of vegetation, or rather when their vegetation is over, into a tough, leathery, andeven woody substance, which gives them a permanency beyond that of their congeners,and a trait of character that is not included in the above definition. They are also a tribeof plants that may be
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectgardening, bookyear1826
