lecanora

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of lichens, type of family Lecanorei. The thallus is crustaceous, chiefly uniform, but sometimes lobed on the margin, or very rarely slightly suffruticose. The apothecium is scutelliform; the spores are 4- to many celled, rarely 2-to 4-celled, and vary from ellipsoidal to oblong or even elongated-fusiform. The spermatia are of various more or less lengthened forms, and placed on nearly simple sterigmata. The species are very numerous; some of them are used in dyeing, especially L. tartarea. (See cudbear.) Another species so used is L. pallescens, which includes the light and white crottles of Scotland and England. (See crottles.) The species L. esculenta and L. affinis, found from Algiers to Tatary, appear to grow unattached, and are said to be borne through the air in large quantities. They serve as food for man and beast in times of scarcity, and are called manna lichens.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any lichen of the genus Lecanora; some used in dyeing; some used for food