Usnea
Various species:
U. barbata, U. longissima, U. hirta, U.
florida, U. ceratina and U. dasypoga.
Often called Old Man’s Beard. Greatly used by Native Americans but not a lot of information of how. Major treatment of mucous membrane system; like lungs, intestines, throat, sinuses, urinary and reproductive tract. Antibiotic and Anti-fungal.
Is becoming very rare in many areas and should only be harvested in great need as well as only wind blown and picked up from the ground.
The most informative information seems to be in Sacred Plant Medicine by Stephen Buhner... with a great picture too. There is a web site too, but I lost it when my computer crashed and haven’t gone to fine it again yet. Story and picture submitted by Tephyr
Copyright 1998, Tephyr and Alternative Nature Enterprises
