Ethnolichenology

contain the lichen substance orcin, which converts into the purple dye orcein in the ammonia fermentation process.

Litmus, a water-soluble pH indicator dye mixture, is extracted from Roccella species.

Usnea was used in the United States as a fungal remedy of the mouth, stomach, intestines, anus, vagina, nose, ear, and skin, and in Finland it was used to treat wounds, skin eruptions, and athlete's foot.

[5] In Russia a preparation of the sodium salt of usnic acid was sold under the name Binan for the treatment of varicose and trophic ulcers, second and third degree burns, and for plastic surgery.

The process begins by adding the lichens to various baits such as reindeer blood and other meats, while sometimes mixing the concoction with ground glass or strychnine.

Although toxic, wolf lichens were used to treat sores and inflammation by indigenous people in north California and southern British Columbia, and even taken internally as medicine.

They are also a source of vitamin D.[6] In the past Iceland moss (Cetraria islandica) was an important human food in northern Europe and Scandinavia, and was cooked in many different ways, such as bread, porridge, pudding, soup, or salad.

Northern peoples in North America and Siberia traditionally eat the partially digested lichen after they remove it from the rumen of caribou that have been killed.

One species of Umbilicaria, Iwa-take (U. esculenta), is used in a variety of traditional Korean and Japanese foods.

[7] In India, The Middle East, and Niger, Rimelia reticulata, Ramalina conduplicans, and Parmotrema tinctorum are used as spices and flavor enhancers.

The use of lichens in embalming dates to the 18th Dynasty, where Pseudevernia furfuracea was found in an Egyptian vase.

The organs and viscera were wrapped in separate linen packets and replaced in the body or put in canopic jars between the legs.

The body cavity was then packed with lichen, sawdust, bruised myrrh, cassia, and other spices.

[4] Today, embalming fluids are colored from the lichen dye orchil into a product called Cudbear, illustrating how a historical procedure can influence future practices.