Mother Earth's Medicine Cabinet: Usnea - The Life Saving Lichen
Usnea is an incredible lichen that has many healing properties. Lichen is an organism that grows in symbiotic relationship consisting of fungi and algae. A lichen grows slowly up against other surfaces in the wild. Usnea grows in forests all over the world, and it is known throughout as Old Man's Beard. Many people have likely seen the lichen and walked right past it. There are several hundreds of species of Usnea, but the species that hold the best healing properties are Usnea barbata and Usnea hirta.