Ethnolichenology

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Iwatake (Umbilicaria esculenta) gathering at Kumano in Kishū, by Hiroshige II

Ethnolichenology is the study of the relationship between lichens and people. Lichens have and are being used for many different purposes by human cultures across the world. The most common human use of lichens is for dye, but they have also been used for medicine, food and other purposes.

Lichens for dye

Lichens are a common source of

fermentation and involves letting the lichen steep in ammonia (traditionally urine
) for at least two to three weeks.

In North America the most significant lichen dye is Letharia vulpina. Indigenous people through most of this lichen's range in North America traditionally make a yellow dye from this lichen by boiling it in water.

Many of the

crottle or crotal), made from Parmelia saxatilis scraped off rocks,[2] and red lichen dyes (called corkir) were used extensively to produce tartans
.

Purple dyes from lichens were historically very important throughout Europe from the 15th to 17th centuries. They were generally extracted from

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.

Lichens for medicine

Many lichens have been used medicinally across the world. A lichen's usefulness as a medicine is often related to the lichen secondary compounds that are abundant in most lichen thalli. Different lichens produce a wide variety of these compounds, most of which are unique to lichens and many of which are antibiotic. It has been estimated that 50% of all lichen species have antibiotic properties.[3] Many lichen extracts have been found to be effective in killing Gram-positive bacteria, which included species that cause boils, scarlet fever, and pneumonia [4]

One of the most potent lichen antibiotics is usnic acid, as a result Usnea spp. are commonly used in traditional medicines. Usnea was used in the United States as a fungal remedy of the mouth, stomach, intestines, anus, vagina, nose, ear, and skin, and in Finland it was used to treat wounds, skin eruptions, and athlete's foot.[5] In Russia a preparation of the sodium salt of usnic acid was sold under the name Binan for the treatment of varicose and trophic ulcers, second and third degree burns, and for plastic surgery.[4]

Other lichens commonly featured in folk medicines include

Iceland moss and Lungwort
.

Lichens for poisons

Letharia vulpina, the wolf lichen

Only a few lichens are truly poisonous, with species of Letharia and Vulpicida being the primary examples. These lichens are yellow because they have high concentrations of the bright yellow toxin vulpinic acid.

Wolf lichen (Letharia vulpina) was used in Scandinavia to poison wolves. The process begins by adding the lichens to various baits such as reindeer blood and other meats, while sometimes mixing the concoction with ground glass or strychnine. Wolves that ate the concoction were reported to succumb in less than 24 hours. The Achomawi people of northern California use Letharia to poison arrowheads. The arrowheads would be soaked in the lichens for a year sometimes with the addition of rattlesnake venom. Although toxic, wolf lichens were used to treat sores and inflammation by indigenous people in north California and southern British Columbia, and even taken internally as medicine.

Lichens for food

Further information: Edible lichen
The hairlike lichen Bryoria fremontii is edible.

There are records of lichens being used as food by many different human cultures across the world. Lichens are eaten by people in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, and perhaps elsewhere. Often lichens are merely famine foods eaten in times of dire needs, but in some cultures lichens are a staple food or even a delicacy.

In the past

Secwepemc story. Reindeer lichen (Cladonia spp.) is a staple food of reindeer and caribou in the Arctic. Northern peoples in North America and Siberia traditionally eat the partially digested lichen after they remove it from the rumen of caribou that have been killed. It is often called 'stomach icecream'. Rock tripe (Umbilicaria spp. and Lasalia spp.) is a lichen that has frequently been used as an emergency food in North America. One species of Umbilicaria, Iwa-take (U. esculenta), is used in a variety of traditional Korean and Japanese foods. It is quite expensive, and is collected off the sides of cliffs. In India, Parmotrema perlatum lichen is a popular ingredient of many spice mixes, such as garam masala, kaala masala and goda masala, bhojwar masala from Hyderabad and potli masala of Uttar Pradesh.[6] In India, The Middle East, and Niger, Rimelia reticulata, Ramalina conduplicans, and Parmotrema tinctorum are used as spices and flavor enhancers.[7]

Very few lichens are poisonous. Poisonous lichens include those high in vulpinic acid[8] or usnic acid.[8] Most (but not all) lichens that contain vulpinic acid are yellow, so any yellow lichen should be considered to be potentially poisonous.


Lichens for embalming

Pseudevernia furfuracea was used in embalming.

Cudbear
, illustrating how a historical procedure can influence future practices.

Other human uses of lichens

Lichens have been and are still being used for many other purposes, including

  • Alcohol production (for fermentable carbohydrates, as catalysts, and/or as flavour/preservatives)
  • Cosmetics (for hair, and/or sweet smelling powders)
  • Perfumes (see Oakmoss)
  • Decorations (including costumes and artwork)
  • Fibre (clothing, housing, cooking, sanitation)
  • Animal feed (both fodder and forage)
  • Fuel
  • Industrial purposes (production of acid, antibiotic, carbohydrate, litmus)
  • Tanning
  • Hunting/fishing (to find prey, or to lure them in)
  • Navigation
  • Insect repellent/insecticide
  • Preservatives (for food or beer)
  • Rituals
  • Tobacco
  • Narcotics
  • Hallucinogens (see Dictyonema)

See also

References

  1. ^ Brewster, Sir David (1832). Lichen. The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Crottle". Dictionary of the Scots Language. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  3. ^ Sharnoff, Sylvia. "Lichens and People". Archived from the original on 20 May 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d Richardson, D. H. S. 1974. Vanishing Lichens. Their History, Biology and Importance. 231 pp. HafnerPress, New York.
  5. ^ Vartia, K.O. 1973. Antibiotics in lichens. pp. 547-561. In Ahmadjian, V, Hale, ME, eds. The Lichens. p. 548.
  6. ^ Mani, Priya (2020), "Stone Curry: P. perlatum as a Secret Spice in Indian food" (PDF), Oxford Food Symposium
  7. PMID 20657116
    . Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  8. ^ a b Emmerich, R., I. Giez, O. L. Lange, and P. Proksch. 1993. Toxicity and antifeedant activity of lichen compounds against the polyphagous herbivorous insect Spodoptera littoralis. Phytochemistry 33(6): 1389-1394.
  9. ^ a b Llano, G.A.P. 1944. Lichens: their biological and economic significance. The Botanical Review 10 (1): 1-65. Page 37.
  10. ^ Baumann, B.B. 1960. The botanical aspects of ancient Egyptian embalming and burial. Econ. Bot. 14(1):84-104. Page 88.

External links

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