Sleepless as if came out of old Russian fairy tales. It grows in a dense forest and hangs from branches with untidy ash-green strands. It is difficult to find it, but they are looking for it because of the valuable properties of this natural antibiotic.
This lichen belongs to the Parmelia family. It is widespread enough, but mainly lives in zones with a temperate climate. The plant can live only in a clean forest, it is not near cities and large settlements. It settles on trees: more often conifers than deciduous ones. Although the lichen lives on trees, it does not parasitize on them: the branches serve only as a support for it.
Usneya can grow not only in the shade, but also in sunny glades.
The plant looks like mud hanging from snags. Long strands of lichen are like a beard: matted and shaggy. For this, the lichen was popularly called the beard of the goblin. Rigid small branches are covered with hairs. They are attached to the bark of trees and can reach a length of 2 m, although they grow slowly. The color of the “beard” can be pale green, dirty green and brown. There are many types of this useful plant.
It is a bushy formation descending from trees. Its main difference is that each branch ends with an apothecia – an open fruiting body of a lichen. Apothecia of other species of this plant are not so pronounced and are covered with small branches. And in a flowering lichen, it is round, like the sun from children’s drawings. This “sun” at the end of the branch looks like an open flower.
This plant species is listed in the Red Book as endangered. It is harvested as a medicinal plant. It contains usnic acid, a natural antibiotic. It is used both in folk medicine and in pharmacology.
This species was named bearded for its long thallus – the body of a lichen, which can reach a length of 2 m.It reproduces vegetatively and by thallus, therefore, when collecting this valuable plant, it cannot be completely plucked from the tree.
In addition to usic acid, the thallus is rich in iodine and ascorbic acid. The plant is used to treat:
- inflammatory and purulent diseases;
- diseases of the cardiovascular system;
- skin pathologies.
Lichen is used in cosmetology, homeopathy and traditional medicine. Since then, the number of these plants has declined mainly due to irresponsible harvesting for sale. Mosses grow for a long time, and their habitat is shrinking due to poor ecology.
Goblin’s beard is a rare plant. Many of its species are listed in the Red Book. Valuable substances of lichen are not a universal medicine and have contraindications.