In modern American herbal medicine, Usnea is primarily used in lung and upper respiratory tract infections, and urinary tract infections. There are no human clinical trials to either support or refute either practice, although in vitro research does strongly support Usnea's antimicrobial properties.

Usnea lichen is important to note because it has life-saving potential. Native Americans employed it as a compress to severe battle wounds to prevent infection and gangrene, and it was also taken internally to fight infections. Usnea contains potent antibiotics which can halt infection and are broad spectrum and effective against all gram-positive and tuberculosis bacterial species. Usnea has several unique characteristics which make its identification easy if stranded in the wilderness far from a hospital. Usnea lichens can be easily identified by pulling back the outer sheath on the main stem. Usnea lichens have an elastic pure white cord running through the center of the main stem. Lichen species which resemble Usnea do not have this white cord, and appear grey-green throughout. Usnea lichens do not change color throughout the growing season as do lichen species which closely resemble Usnea.

Usnea also has shown usefulness in the treatment of difficult to treat fish infections in aquariums and ponds; in part due to the Usnic Acid for digestive internal infections or external infections, and as well for gill infections/stress due to Mucilage which is also contained in Usnea. [source: wikipedia.org]

Botanical Name: Usnea spp.

Plant Part Extracted: Dried tree lichen

Other Ingredients: certified organic grain alcohol.

Description: We prepare our Usnea Extract from various species of Usnea lichens which have been Custom Wildcrafted™ from wild oak trees.

To assure optimal extraction & concentration of Usnea's usnic acid and other bioactive compounds, we custom extract the lichens with our special double-extraction process.

Our Usnea is never fumigated or irradiated.

More About Herb Pharm
Herbal medicines are only as effective as the quality of the herbs from which they are made. When Ed Smith and Sara Katz founded Herb Pharm in 1979 they understood as herbalists this basic principle and have never compromised in their efforts to provide the highest quality, most effective whole-herb healthcare products possible. They know that producing effective herbal extracts that enable people to affect positive changes in the quality of their health is based on diligent study and understanding of traditional herbal medicine, as well as modern herbal sciences. At Herb Pharm they grow most of the herbs on the “Pharm Farm” – their certified organic farm located in a rural valley of the Siskiyou Mountains in southern Oregon. As organic farmers, they never use synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, nor do they use genetically modified seeds. Instead, employing fundamental, time-honored sustainable agriculture techniques including crop rotation, cover cropping, natural weed control such as hand weeding and flame weeding, and composting to condition the soil. Each year, our farm is inspected and certified as organic by Oregon Tilth.