Evernia prunastri
FAMILY: Usneaceae
SYNONYMS: Mousse de chene, treemoss.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: A light green lichen found growing primarily on oak trees, but sometimes other species.
DISTRIBUTION: The oak (Quercus robur) is indigenous to Europe and North America; the lichen is collected all over central and southern Europe, especially France, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Greece, and also Morocco and Algeria. The aromatic materials are prepared mainly in France, but also in the USA, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia.
OTHER SPECIES: There are many varieties of lichen used for their aromatic qualities, the most common being E. furfuracea and Usnea barbata which are frequently gathered from spruce and pine trees, and are known as fir moss or tree moss in Europe, but in the USA are also called oakmoss. However they are less refined than the ‘true’ oakmoss. Other species include Sticta pulmonaceae or Lobaria pulmonaria, Usnea ceratina, and some members of the Ramalina, Alectoria and Parmelia groups.
HERBAL/FOLK TRADITION: Sticta pulmonaceae, a greeny-brown lichen also found growing on oak trees and frequently harvested along with E. prunastri, is also called oak lungs, lung moss, lungwort or ‘lungs of oak’ by the North American Indians who use it for respiratory complaints and for treating wounds. It is called lobaria in the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia and is used for asthma, bronchitis and coughs in children.
Many types of lichen, especially the Parmelia group, are used as vegetable dyes.
ACTIONS: Antiseptic, demulcent, expectorant, fixative.
EXTRACTION: A range of products is produced: a concrete and an absolute by solvent extraction from the lichen which has often been soaked in lukewarm water prior to extraction; an absolute oil by vacuum distillation of the concrete; resins and resinoids by alcohol extraction of the raw material. Most important of these products is the absolute.
CHARACTERISTICS: 1. The absolute is a dark green or brown, very viscous liquid with an extremely tenacious, earthy-mossy odour and a leatherlike undertone. 2. The absolute oil is a pale yellow or olive viscous liquid with a dry earthy, barklike odour, quite true to nature. 3. The concrete, resin and resinoids are a very dark-coloured semi-solid or solid mass with a heavy, rich-earthy, extremely tenacious odour. They have a high fixative value and blend with virtually all other oils: they are extensively used in perfumery to lend body and rich natural undertones to all perfume types.
PRINCIPAL CONSTITUENTS: Crystalline matter of so-called ‘lichen acids’: mainly evernic acid, d-usnic acid, some atranorine and chloratronorine.
SAFETY DATA: Extensively compounded or ‘bouquetted’ by cutting or adulteration with other lichen or synthetic perfume materials.
AROMATHERAPY/HOME: USE As a fixative.
OTHER USES: The concrete is used primarily in soaps; the absolute is the most versatile and is used in all perfume types (oriental, moss, fougère, new-mown hay, floral, colognes, aftershaves, etc.). The absolute oil is used in high-class perfumes. The resins and resinoids, which have a poor solubility, are used in soaps, hair preparations, industrial perfumes and low cost products.... oakmoss
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