Evening star., 1952-04-21
Strange Lichen Put
To Scores of Uses 1
Plant Can Be Food, Dye,
Medicine or Perfume
By Thomos R. Henry

Fields of lichens constitute the pas
lures Of the Arctic"
One species probably was the man
ma" Of the Israelites. It still grows on
rocks in the mountainous regions Of
Biblical lands.
Uses of these curious forms Of plant
life range from human food to dyes and
delicate perfumes.
These little-known facts are revealed
by DR.. George A. Lano, formerly curator
Of hchens Of the National Museum, in
an extensive study Just published by the
Smithsonian Institution.
Unique i'm Evolution.
The plants themselves, Of which there
are thousands Of species. represent q
curious and unique type Of evolution.
Botanists have hard time accepting
lichenS into the community Of plants be-
cause of their compound nature. Each
individual lichen is made up of two diff
ferent and separate entities. each living
its own life. But they live together in
such balanced relationship that they
not only act like single organism but
are able to reproduce the unit.
One partner is fungus, like mould.
It is the water gatherer. The other is
a blue-green or green alga, Of the type
that forms the green scum on Stagnant
water. The alga makes food for itself
and for the fungus. Both the alga and
the fungus have their own proper
names, but these are entirely different
from that used for the lichen.
The greatest economic use of lichens.
DR.. Llano points out, is as fodder. Thou
sands of square miles Of the Arctic. gen.
orally above the timber line, are lichen
pastures used by reindeer, caribou and
musk-ox. These pastures cover parts Of
Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, Alaska.
Siberia, Labrador, Northern Canada and
the Arctic archipelago. 40
Over most of this area the chief i'm
portance Of lichens to man Is as food
for the wild caribou and domeSticated
reindeer. Harvested, the Mchens can be
used as food for most domeSticated ami
mails. Man himself long has used lich-
ems for food. The most popular form
is known as Iceland moss. 1t sometimes
was mixed with grain and potatoes and
made into q bread flour.
Extracts in Perfumes.
Lichens long have been used as medi-
cines. This use has been given new i'm
petus with the coming of antibiotics, and
one recent investigation showed that
extracts of more than 80 species con-
tanned principles active against various
disease-cauSing micro-organisms. Lich-
ems also have been used instead OF hops
in brewing beer and the distilling OF
lichen brandy was once profitable In
dustry in both Scandinavia and Russia.
Lichen extracts, DR.. Llano says. have
had q wide use In the perfume industry.
Mixed with other materials they make
very stable perfumes, and there has been
some recent revival Of their popularity.
One of the most important uses for
lichens has been in dying cloth, twines
and feathers. The original Harris tweed
consisted Of homespun woolen dyed with
homemade lichen extracts. Since
World War II, however, economic pres
sure and the great popularity Of this
cloth have forced the home industry into
obscurity and Harris tweeds now are
machine made and dyed with synthetic
dyes. Formerly 1t required whole day
for a person to gather enough lichens to
dye so to go pounds Of wool. It has
been observed that wool dyed with
lichen dyes is highly resistant to moths.
That Nchens constituted the mama
of the Israelites now is considered prac-
tically proved. This particular species.
blown from mountain tops into the low
lands, forms hummochs in the valleys.
There was an abundant fall in Turkey
as late as 1891.