Usnea

Usnea spp.

Parmeliaceae

Old-man’s beard — a traditional lichen gargle and skin wash, habitat-sensitive, not a wild-stripped tea.

A slow lichen. Collect only from fallen branches or buy legally gathered material. Do not strip standing old-growth.

Parts used: Thallus (the beard), fallen or purchased
Traditional notes: Traditional gargle · A cloth wash on closed skin · Folk first-aid lichen
Habitat only: Clean-air temperate and boreal woods, hanging from conifers and hardwoods. A pollution indicator. Habitat map, not a harvest map.

The white elastic cord is the ID. If it does not stretch, it is another beard.
A pinch. Spit. Then stop. Conservation first.

Safety

Stripping living old-growth A daily internal usnea pot Lichen you cannot split to show the white cord

Lore

Usnea is named for the Arabic ushnah. European herbals used the beard as a wound wash and a throat gargle. Linnaeus filed it with the lichens that hang like hair. Loggers and air-quality maps still know it as a canary: when the beards vanish, the air has changed. The white cord is the whole lesson — look, name, and leave the living tree.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.