Symbiosis: Evolution in Action

• Main Author: Sapp, Jan
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University PressNew York, NY 1994
• Subjects: Arctic; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195088205.003.0001; https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/52505109/isbn-9780195088205-book-part-1.pdf

Abstract Lichenologists of the late nineteenth century frequently told stories of how lichens perhaps more than any other groups of plants had been neglected by previous generations of botanists, how the few who did study them did so on the side and subjected them to great abuse through their careless study.2 The reasons for this, it was argued, were not hard to find. These plants possessed few qualities to make them conspicuous; as a rule, they are neither striking in color, size, or form, nor do they possess marked useful or harmful properties. Some lichens had been claimed to be useful in the arts and medicine. During the wars of 1812 and 1815 fevers of all sorts were prevalent in military hospitals. Quinine, which was the popular remedy, became scarce because of the enormous quantities consumed and because of the commercial blockade of Europe. The Austrian government therefore offered a prize of five hundred ducats for the discovery of a cheap, readily available substitute for quinine. The prize was won when lichen was proposed as a substitute, but it was soon found that the medicinal properties of lichen were unsatisfactory and the remedy was abandoned by physicians. Nonetheless, the peasantry of various countries still believe in the healing properties of various lichens. In Sweden Peltigera aphthosa was boiled in milk and given to children afflicted with “thrush.” Decoctions of various lichens were employed for intermittent fevers. Sir John Franklin and his companions made use of this lichen during their arctic voyages, and its use to prevent the disease known as “Iceland scurvy” continued during the nineteenth century.