archil is a purplish dye obtained from lichens also called cudbear.
archil is a purplish dye obtained from lichens also called cudbear.
purplish dye obtained from lichens also called cudbear?
archil
purple dyes from lichens were historically very important throughout europe from the 15th to 17th centuries. they were generally extracted from "roccella" spp. lichens imported from the canary islands, cape verde islands, madagascar, or india. these lichens, and the dye extracted from them, are called orchil (variants archil, orchilla). the same dye was also produced from "ochrolechia" spp. lichens in britain and was called cudbear. both "roccella" spp. and "ochrolechia" spp. contain the lichen substance orcin, which converts into the purple dye orcein in the ammonia fermentation process.









































litmus, a water-soluble ph indicator dye mixture, is extracted from "roccella" species.
ethnolichenology
crustose lichens can be found in a wide range of areas. they can be found, among others, together with epiphytic algae and liverworts, living on the surfaces of leaves of tropical evergreen trees and shrubs. they also thrive in carbonate-rich karst areas. in southern china, it has been estimated that 5-30% of rock outcrops in bare karst areas and 30-70% in forest karst areas are covered with crustose lichens. crustose lichens also flourish in extreme environments. various species of crustose lichens, including "biatora granulosa" and "lecidea uliginosa," were found covering recently-burned surfaces caused by a subarctic forest fire in an area near the great slave lake. crustose lichens also grow in areas of high elevations, such as the western himalayan region. concentrations of terricolous crustose lichens were highest in areas of higher elevation, relative to other foliose and fruticose lichens. in areas of high pollution, the majority of lichens are killed and are the first plants to disappear in cities due to their high sensitivity to atmospheric pollutants. nonetheless, surrounding the central area of cities in which most plants cannot thrive, crustose lichens "physcia" or "xanthoria" have been found growing, although they do fall short of natural development and size. the crustose lichen "lecanora conizaeoides" is another highly resilient species, and remarkably seems to only grow in industrial areas of the united kingdom.
crustose lichen