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Lungwort lichen
Lobaria pulmonaria
47.6859, -122.077
Field Notes
Description:
It is a foliose lichen and its leaf-like thallus is green, leathery and lobed with a pattern of ridges and depressions on the upper surface. Bright green under moist conditions, it becomes brownish and papery when dry. This species often has a fine layers of hairs, a tomentum, on its lower surface. The cortex, the outer protective layer on the thallus surface, is roughly comparable to the epidermis of a green plant. The thallus is typically 5–15 centimetres (2.0–5.9 in) in diameter, with individual lobes 1–3 centimetres (0.39–1.18 in) wide and up to 7 cm long.[4] The asexual reproductive structures soredia and isidia are present on the thallus surface. Minute (0.5–1.5 mm in diameter) cephalodia—pockets of cyanobacteria—are often present on the lower surface of the thallus; these spots are conspicuously darker than the green surface of the thallus.[5] Like other foliose lichens, the thallus is only loosely attached to the surface on which it grows.-Wikipedia
Habitat:
Spotted on a maple tree in a maple and cedar forest.
Notes:
Its shape somewhat resembles the tissue inside lungs and therefore it is thought to be a remedy for lung diseases based on the doctrine of signatures. The lichen's common English names are derived from this association. Gerard's book The Herball or General Historie of plants (1597) recommends L. pulmonaria as medicinally valuable.[35] It is still used for asthma, urinary incontinence and lack of appetite.[35] In India it is used as a traditional medicine to treat hemorrhages and eczema,[5] and it is used as a remedy for coughing up blood by the Hesquiaht in British Columbia, Canada.[36] An ethnophytotherapeutical survey of the high Molise region in central-southern Italy revealed that L. pulmonaria is used as an antiseptic, and is rubbed on wounds.[37]
A hot-water extract prepared using this species has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and ulcer-preventing activities.[38] Also, methanol extracts were shown to have a protective effect on the gastrointestinal system of rats, possibly by reducing oxidative stress and reducing the inflammatory effects of neutrophils.[39] Furthermore, methanol extracts also have potent antioxidative activity and reducing power, probably due to the presence of phenolic compounds.-Wikipedia
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