This plant abounds on all our sea-shores: and, if slightly washed from the sea-water, and dried in the air, it becomes covered with a sweet powdery efflorescence. It is edible either in a raw state, or boiled as a pot-herb. Sometimes it is hung up to serve the purpose of an hygrometer, which it does in some degree by becoming flaccid during a moist state of the atmosphere, and hard in dry weather. 291. _DULSE, or RED PALMATE FUCUS_ (Fucus palmatus), _is a flat, membranous, and hand-shaped, sea-weed, of brownish crimson colour, smooth on both sides, and without any mid-rib._ In the markets of Edinburgh, and other parts of Scotland, this plant, which is common on most of the British shores, is exposed for sale as an article of food. After having been washed in fresh water, it is eaten raw, by itself, in salad, or by poor people with other provisions. Sometimes it is boiled and used as a pot-herb. If gradually dried, it gives out a whitish powdery substance, which covers the whole plant, and has a sweet and agreeable taste, somewhat resembling that of violets. In this state it is frequently packed in casks for exportation. Some persons chew it as tobacco. In Scotland it is occasionally used as a medicine, and it is supposed to sweeten the breath and destroy worms. 292. _GREEN or EDIBLE LAVER_ (Ulva lactuca) _is a thin, membranous, pellucid, and green vegetable substance, which is found on rocks, stones, and shells, in the sea and salt-water ditches in nearly all parts of Great Britain._ Of late years this plant, stewed with lemon juice, has been introduced to the tables of the luxurious, as a sauce to be eaten with roast meat. Though in a recent state it has a salt and bitterish flavour, and even when thus prepared is not always relished at first, yet by habit most persons become partial to it. The laver which is consumed in London is chiefly prepared in the west of England, and packed in pots in a state ready for the table. Some persons use laver medicinally, and it is esteemed wholesome for scrofulous habits; but it can scarcely be taken in sufficient quantity to do much good, without having too strong an effect on the bowels. 293. _The MORELL_ (Phallus esculentus, Fig. 84) _is a kind of fungus with a naked and wrinkled stem, and an egg-shaped head, full of cells on its external surface._ As an ingredient for thickening and heightening the flavour of sauces and soups, morells, which are chiefly found in woods and hedges in a loamy soil, are in great esteem. For this purpose, after they are gathered, they are strung upon pack-thread to be dried; and, when dry, they may be kept without injury for many months.