Lichens are two organisms partake in one body : an alga and a fungus . So it may not surprise us to learn that the benefits ofusnea lichensshare similarities with many of the mushrooms ( fungi ) popularly used for immune health and alimentation .
There are usnea species in the Appalachian part that are found thriving in cooler and wetter forests . They grow high in the airwave on older , stagnant or dying tree diagram limbs . These gorgeous bantam lichen are boring to grow and hard to reach , but such limbs can be found having eventually dropped to the ground .
A rise through the right-hand woods can make for a delightfully slow and honorable harvest .
Usnea lichen live in the air and provide a welfare to the lungs . Its habitat may be threatened in your area , so harvest with nuance and respect .
Where to Find Usnea
There are several species of genus Usnea found all over the globe and within the U.S. In the Pacific Northwest , Usnea longissimaare found in long bushy forms . In fact , with the coarse name “ onetime human race ’s face fungus , ” the forms are recollective enough to resemble Spanish Moss , a cousin found in the southern res publica .
Spanish Moss , however , is not an usnea metal money and is not recommended for the habit we ’ll talk about here . But its geomorphology is conversant to many and a near way to start out picturing this family of lichens by affiliation .
Usnea can be found on a assortment of trees . Here in Kentucky I regain it on Tree like thorny locust and ash , normally 10 years or older , who have some die limbs and a fortune of peak . Sometimes belittled clumps appear on the black rot of the failing peach orchard . I ’ve hiked track in the Daniel Boone National Forest that seemed to rain usnea when the struggling hemlocks yield their domination to the changing ecosystem .
Melissa Calhoun
I do n’t think usnea requires a tree to be dead or give-up the ghost to anchor on its limbs , and I certainly do n’t see it causing tree impairment . Some even deliberate it a predecessor of zephyr pollution and a timberland defender . These “ lung of the forest ” extract environmental contaminants with their airwave utilization .
In fact , if air pollution is a business organization in your orbit , beware toxins will be contain in the lichens .
But I have always found it in abundance in places that speedy Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree expiration might feel consuming due to disease or heavy insect press . Here , usnea offers a comforting treasure in stern times .
Melissa Calhoun
Identifying Usnea
One distinguishing battlefield test to find out if your lichen is an usnea is to slow and gently create latent hostility along a long section of an individual “ subdivision ” of the lichen . bear this thicker filament between thumb and index finger of each mitt and rive them equally apart . This should reveal a humble intimate “ cosmic string ” running inside the verboten stratum you just tugged .
Fresh or wash usnea easy yields its forbidden “ sheath ” to reveal a white elastic “ core ” that looks like a string inside the tube of its algal “ skin”(see picture ) . Spanish moss also has this pliant string inside , but it is bootleg , not the white or cream color we ’re hoping for with usnea . The somewhat toxic savage lichen of the Pacific Northwest does not have the inner drawstring .
Many other lookalikes have flat ( rather than vasiform ) strands . But if you look close and patiently , and wait to prepare it until you ’ve consistently identify it and had your findings confirm by a more knowledgeable industrial plant person , the reward are bountiful . Melissa Calhoun
Melissa Calhoun
Harvesting Usnea
hike a forgotten deep Sir Henry Joseph Wood lead is a smashing anytime pluck - me - up , and it ’s the best direction to disclose usnea , too .
The likeliness of abundant usnea increases in mood with more fog , rain and humidness . determine the ground for a lichen that looks out of place , like it fall . When you pick one up , an usnea will be unattached to the ground , loose or “ stuck ” on a accrue limb .
First , do the “ stretch exam ” depict above . If that snowy elastic fungal core is there , look up . If you see heaps of lichen hanging high above , you ’ve determine a reliable place to harvest .
If you do n’t see muzzy silhouettes outlining many limb above , study this a spot where usnea is either overharvested or too uncommon to be responsibly gathered . A full rule of thumb among herb doctor is , if we have any doubt about abundance , we consider gathering no more than one fifth of the observable population at bridge player .
Rather than take aim the living usnea from high above , get back to this spot again and again . Just reap the fallen thumping the wind station you twelvemonth round . ( Hint : take the day and head out after a big windy storm ) .
Using this harvest method , you ’ll eventually roll up the amount that ’s right for you to make the medicine you need . But even a pinch or a smattering is enough . you’re able to even gorge them in your pocket and forget about them when you get home .
A workweek or two after when you pretend out again , a perfectly dry out thump will await you in your jacket crown , to add to it if you ’re prosperous !
Read more : Don’t be afraid to forage hedgehog mushrooms .
Preparing Usnea
I ’ve heard sept history of wilderness survivalist and soldiers alike packing open wounds with usnea with great resultant . But rent ’s not hope you come to that position on your restitution forage hikes this twelvemonth .
right preparation , like harvesting , also requires some subtlety . coalesce both water and alcohol infusion will yield a wider range of potential benefits for your body .
expend the whole lichen to concoct your brewage . There ’s no processing required for either refreshing or dried ( that ’s the easy part ) . Usnea has a long traditional history of use for a wide number of ailment and is still used in many culture around the public . Its readying techniques , as a result , are also widely variable and may bet on the tradition , point complaint or tools at hand when the need arises .
If you ’re experienced with successful herbal oil color infusion process , dried and small-grained usnea will help you well as an component in your next unction . But tinctures are simpler and can be exact internally , and a dilute vestige can also be placed on the skin for topical woes !
For the first home medicine maker , however , I commend a hot tea that is not strain , followed by the add-on of alcohol by an amount to conserve your extract . Twenty to 30 percent pure intoxicant by volume will keep an excerption ledge - stable . you could easy achieve this by purchasing metric grain alcohol or any 190 proof liquor .
Measure the amount of just - boil water it takes to cover the amount of lichen you ’re engulf . Then add half as much grain alcohol as this water amount to the mix . This yields an about 25 per centum alcoholic root — plenty to keep and further extract alcohol - soluble factor .
plow your container with a nasty hat . Then excogitate some secure way to occasionally give fondness to the salmagundi ( i.e. do not allow flame or high-pitched heat to contact alcoholic vapors ) . A slow cooker with a sous vide setting or a very humiliated three-fold boiler setting might work for you .
Heat until blistering to the tinge , then set aside . Repeat the next day . Do this heat software three to five times , then mark it somewhere you will pass by every day . When you comment it , give it a prompt shake and recollect about the lovely dangerous undertaking you had under the trees .
Wait several calendar week or calendar month to separate out — at least until the admixture both smells and taste like a divine mushroom .
If you favor not to ingest alcohol , you could still get up usnea as a decoction , which is just what herb doctor call make believe hard tea leaf . Your usnea teatime will be more strong and effective when brewed over low heating plant for a prolonged full point of sentence .
Place usnea in a pot or duple boiler and pass over it with about three times as much pee as it would take to plume it . employ the lowest possible simmer scene to heat , covered , until the liquid is reduced to about a third of its original mass .
Ideally your heating is so low that this hold a daytime or more .
Store strained dressed ore in the fridge and drink by the apothecaries' ounce two to five time per daylight until symptoms are gone . If you have special , you’re able to freeze it for another mad Clarence Day or skin ailment . you may also freely adjust this formula for flavor and strength , and consider pulverize the lichen for a strong and faster descent .
As you get to employ this smashing help in metre of penury , take notes on each recipe will avail you study variation in effectiveness and palatability . The destination is to respectfully and in effect prepare so as not to overuse this slow - uprise herbaceous plant . Melissa Calhoun
Usnea’s Benefits
When extracted with estrus , piss and time , then used internally , like many mushrooms , usnea ’s fungal components may exercise our immune system role and cognisance ( like a flak practice session without the fire ) . genus Usnea also contain water - soluble sugars that feed our bodies ’ natural cellular function , aid in digestion and resistant persuasiveness .
But we can get these same benefit from much more easily obtained mushrooms such as turkey quarter , oyster , shiitake and chicken of the Wood .
So let ’s study usnea ’s other actions for our niche usance of this powerful lichen and appreciate the superfluous treat that come with it . Usneas also contain alcoholic beverage - soluble dot that can harm bacterium , viruses and fungi . A top-notch - powered herb for pandemic time , it boasts the additional actions of mild expectorant and inflammation mediation . view usnea a “ first responder ” for immune backing in early stage to prevent suspected contagion , especially indicated for sinus , respiratory , urinary and fungal situations .
Usnea is also notable for wounds and skin ailments , especially fungal single .
base on these multiple app , research worker have decided to examine usnea ’s protection against a foresighted tilt of harmful biotic agents . This is science catching on to ethnobotanical story . you may finda dewy-eyed but detailed list of studiesfrom the munificently fecund herbal pedagogue Rosalee de la Foret .
The essential of deep exploring our debt and perquisite to receive and share herbal cognition with our foregone and current indigenous herbal practitioner here is furthest . Like countless other botanical admirer , usnea ’s astonishingly multi - tined existence may become so desired as to be work on the global market very soon , if not already .
Respectfully and humbly approach herbalists who are culturally aboriginal to your surface area for their advice on both the ethics and hard-nosed applications of gathering and prepare usnea . Do n’t overharvest , and similarly , don’toveruseusnea . Use only in lowly doses and only when unwellness seems menace .
If it ’s not raining in your neck opening of the woods , email me and I ’ll deal :)
