Parmelia (blue gray) and parmotrema (green gray). Possibly the toughest living things on the planet. They grow in the arctic, in deserts, on crumbling concrete walls and on the blasted rims of volcanoes. And on the bark of trees. They don't need soil, and often become the first bit of soil for mosses and plants that come after them. . . . If you crush them up between your hands, the scent will bring back memories of climbing trees as a child. You have smelled it before, many times, but never knew what it was from. If you scatter the crushed pieces to the wind, some of them will grow, sorcerer's apprentice style, into entire new specimens. . . . There's a sort of ritual i do the night before hunting, where i bathe myself and was my clothes in water infused with these lichens. They seem to mask the huma scent, make me smell like a tree. . . . Medicinally, they contain usnic acid, which is antiviral; mannitol and other sugar alcohols, which are diuretic; an orange substance that appears to be lawsone, which is an antihistamine; alpha and beta glucans, which are immunomodulatory polysaccharides, and also demulcent; resins, which are antiinflammatory and expectorant, and a whole host of other substances, known and unknown. . . . . #medicinalplants #herbalmedicine #nature #verdigris #lowerplants #subherbs #lichens #survival #hunting