Loudon's encyclopædia of plants : comprising the specific character, description, culture, history, application in the arts, and every other desirable particular respecting all the plants indigenous to, cultivated in, or introduced to Britain / [J.C. Loudon].

  • Loudon, J. C. (John Claudius), 1783-1843.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Loudon's encyclopædia of plants : comprising the specific character, description, culture, history, application in the arts, and every other desirable particular respecting all the plants indigenous to, cultivated in, or introduced to Britain / [J.C. Loudon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    958/1618 (page 928)
    15041 rosea Lyngb. 15042 montana Ag. 15043 cruenta Ag. rosy mountain bloody gregarious leaf-like thin crust ... sum. Pk on lichens Grev. crypt, t. 51 1^ sum. R.G alpine rocks Eng. bot. t. 2195. JJlva ... all sea. R.Br shady places E bot. 1.1800. Tremella 2266. ECHINEL/LA. Ag. Echinella. 15044 articiil.ita Ag. jointed thin film Sp. 1—3. jn.jl G lakes 2267. ALCYONI'DIUM Ag. Alcyonidhim. 15045 diaphanum Ag. transparent fleshy mass 15046 flavescens Ag. yellowish fleshy mass 15047 defractum Ag. broken vermicular Sp. 3—7. 6 sum. Y ocean 3 sum. Y ocean 4 sum. Y.Pk ocean Eb. 1.1378. C.echinulata Eng. bot. t. 263. Viva Fl. dan. 1.1245. Ulva Eng. bot. t. 1626. Ulva 2268. NOS'TOC. Ag. 15048 commune Ag. 15049 pruniforme Ag. 15050 sphae'ricum Ag. 15051 verrucosum Ag. Nostoc. common plum-shaped spherical warted lobefl mass little balls little balls gregarious 2269. CORYNE'PHORA. Ag. Cohynephora. 15052 marina Ag. marine lobed mass Hivularia tuberiformis E. B. 2270. RIVULA'RIA. Ag. Rivularia. 15053 atra Ag. dark minute clots 15054 angulosa Ag. angular little balls 15055 calcarea E. B. calcareous conflu. mass. Linckia dura Lyngb. 2271. CHiETO'PHORA. Ag. CHiETOPHonA. 15056 tuberculosa Ag. warty balls 15057 endiviaefolia Ag. endive-leaved branched P crassa Ag. thick-leaved branched 2272. SCYTHYME'NIA. Ag. Scythymenia. 15058 rupestris Ag. rock broad mass Sp. 4—22. 2 sum. Ol.G damp places E.bot. t. 461. Tremella J sum. Ol. G lakes | sum. Ol.G still waters 1 april Ol.G rocks Sp. 1. 1^ aug. Br sea shore Eng. bot. 1.1956 Sp. 3—11. oct. D.G sea plants sum. Dl.G ditches Eng. bot. 1.1798 Eng. bot. t. 968- H all sea. G lakes & mar. Eng. bot. 1.1799 Sp. 2—12. i sept. G 2 sum. G 2 sum. G Sp. 1. 24 sum. ditches still waters lakes Br rocks 15043 15044 E. bot. t.2366. Rivularia Lyngb. phyt. dan. t. 65 E. b. t. 967. U.incrassata Eng. bot. t. 2194 15046 History, Use, Propagation, Culture, Bauer refering it to a genus of Fungi, called Uredo. We have lately seen a curious paper upon this subject, by Professor Agardh, of Lund, whose opinions upon all matters connected with the lower orders of vegetation demand deep attention. That snow occasionally assumed a red color, had long been a fact of which there could be no doubt; and that water was also under particular circumstances stained with red, we have the popular traditions of showers of blood, and water changed to blood, to attest. In the year 1608, a shower of blood fell near Aix, in France, which was examined by Peiresc, and found to be caused by insects; and to the same cause was undoubtedly to be ascribed the bloody rain that fell at Schonen, in 1711, which the learned Bishop Swedberg looked upon as a supernatural phenomenon, and a direct sign of the anger of the Divinity. The red pools which are occa- sionally met with, even in this country, are generally stained by the presence of an immense number of animalcules, called Daphinia Pulex, or Cyclope quadricornis. The red stains sometimes seen upon the sea- shore are occasioned by a particular sort of Fucus. Professor Agardh proceeds to observe, that the red snow is very common in all the alpine districts of Europe; where it is probably, for the most part, of the same nature as that brought from the North Pole by Captain Ross. Saussure saw it in abundance upon Mount Brevern, in Switzerland, and elsewhere ; Ramond found it on the Pyrenees, and Sommerfeldt in Norway. In March, 1808, the whole country about Cadore, Belluno, and Feltri, was in a single night covered to the depth of twenty centimetres with a rose-colored snow ; at the same time a similar shower was witnessed on the mountains of Valtelin, Brescia, Carinthia, and Tyrol. But the most remarkable red-snow shower was that which fell on the night between the 14th and 15th of March, 1823, in Calabria Abruzzo, in Tuscany, and at Bologna, and upon the whole chain of the Appennines. We may add, that both snow and ice were seen stained with red, green, and blue, by the late expedition under Baron Wrangel to the Frozen Ocean. With this information before him, Professor Agardh proceeds to consider the nature of this remarkable substance, which he concludes, with Brown, to be referable to the lowest order of Alga?, and to stand as a distinct genus, which he calls Protococcus, upon the very limits of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Saussure, indeed, from finding that the red snow of the Alps gave out, when burnt, a smell like that of plants, concluded that it was of vegetable origin ; but he supposed it to consist of the farina of some plant, although he could neither account for its having ascended to such elevated regions, nor mention a plant whose farina was of that color. Besides the plant called Palmella cruenta, which is similar in its structure to the red-snow plant, other low vegetable productions have been noticed by different authors, as possessing a similar color. Such are the Lepraria Kermesina, which, by the way, is considered only a particular state of the red-snow plant itself, and the Byssus cobaltiginea. These are always found in situations in which they are exposed to the intense action of light, such as vast plains of snow, or masses of glittering limestone. Whence it is inferred, that the color of the red snow is attributable to the action of light, modified in some mysterious manner, by the nature of the body on which it strikes. In confirmation of which hypothesis, it is remarked, that when the Lepraria