Icelandic moss – cetrari a islandica (l.) asn.
Popular names: Lopostyanka, Icelandic centaria.
Botanical characteristic. Parmelia family. A perennial foliate-bushy lichen with a leathery thallus, 10-15 cm high. The thallus is attached to a tree, soil, and other substrate with the help of short filamentous trailers (rhizoids). From above the thallus is greenish-brown, from below it is light brown. In dry weather, it becomes brittle and brittle.
Spreading. It grows directly on the soil or bark of old stumps, not only in the tundra, but also in the northern dry pine forests, in the alpine meadows of the Urals, in the middle and northern strips of the European part of the USSR, in Siberia.
Medicinal raw materials. Lichen thallus is used. It is harvested all summer (from May to September). The thallus is torn from the substrate manually or with a rake, cleaned of impurities and dried in the open air in the sun, or in attics under an iron roof, laying out a thin layer on paper or cloth.
Keep 2 years.
Chemical composition. The thallus of the Icelandic moss contains antibiotic substances – lichen acids: lichesteric, protolichesteric, usnic, etc. In addition, 30-70% carbohydrates (glucose, galactose, etc.), up to 3% protein, 1-2% fat, 2-3% crystalline bitter substance centrarine (centraric acid), etc.
pharmacological properties. The presence of a bitter substance (centraric acid) in the thallus determines its properties as bitterness. Thallus also has an enveloping and antiseptic effect. The antibiotic usnic acid was isolated from the thallus, which even at a dilution of 1:2,000,000 has a bacteriostatic effect.
Application. The thallus of Icelandic moss in the form of decoctions, collections, jelly is widely used as an appetite stimulant for all kinds of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, with atony of the stomach and chronic constipation. Doses inside: horses 15-100 g, cattle 30-150, small 20-80, pigs 10-20, dogs 2-5 g.
The sodium salt of usnic acid called sodium usninate is commercially available for the treatment of wounds, burns, cracks, etc.