The Lost Apothecary Natures Antibiotics USNEA Lichen

PROPERTIES OF USNEA

Seen it growing around the place? Now you've seen it you'll recognise it everywhere, growing hardy and true, clinging to the fence or growing abundant over certain trees. There really is medicine all around us. So lets dive in to this amazing little lichen and how you can harvest it and prepare it safely.

Actions: - Analgesic, Antibacterial, Antifungal, Antiinflammatory, Antiparasitic, Antiviral, Antiseptic, Antimitotic, Antineoplastic (Cancer), Antioxidant, Antiprotozal, Immunostimulant, Inhibitor of biofilm formation.

Active against - Primarily Gram Positive bacteria and very strongly so, both resistant and nonresistant strains

Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus subtilis, Bacteroides spp, Clostridium spp, Corynebacterium diphthriae, enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Listeria, Tuberculosis, Acne, Staph aureus, Staph simulans, Strep faecalis, Strep mutans, strep pyogenes.

A number of thes ebacteria cause diseases of the GI Tract and others of the skin and blood.

Used to trerat Gram Positive bacterial skin infections, vaginal infections, (as a douche), resistant Gram Positive bacteria or TB of the GI tract and throat, fungal skin infections, resistant broncial and pulmonary infections.

In essence, the polysaccharides in the inner cortex of the lichen Usnea contain the immune-potentiating compounds.

These are much more efficiently extracted by heat. Given that the plant possesses a unique synergism - both immune-potentiating and antibacterial, antiviral, and antimicrobial actions - it makes sense, if you are using the plant to treat disease (rather than infected wounds or vaginal infections), to make sure the immune fractions of the plant are extracted along with

the antibacterial fractions.

Additionally, while the polysaccharides are water soluble, many other compounds, including usnic acid, are not. The plant needs to be tinctured for optimum outcomes if you are treating disease conditions.

The plant appears rather delicate, but it is not. The plant must be ground well in a grinder or pestle before tincturing. Once it is ground you will find that you now possess a greenish powder and a bundle of white threads. The white threads are the inner cortex, the green powder the outer sheath.

WOUND POWDER

If you are treating wounds with Usnea, run the ground herb through a fine mesh or strainer. You can place the resulting powder directly on the wound.

(You will have a bunch of white threads left over.)

TINCTURE

Again, the immune-stimulating polysaccharides are most efficiently extracted with heat. To do this, when you are making your tincture, heat the herb first in the water you are going to use for tincturing. The best way is in a slow cooker (or, failing that, on low heat, covered, over-night in the oven).

Use a tincture ratio of 1:5 (1 part herb to 5 parts liquid). The liquid should be composed of half water and half pure grain alcohol. So if you have 140g of herb, you will use 740ml of liquid - 370ml of water, 370ml of alcohol.

Put the powdered herb in the slow cooker, add the 370mlof water, and stir well. It will turn into a kind of mush. Cover and then cook on low heat for 48 hours. Let cool enough to work with it without burning yourself, then pour into a heat-tolerant jar (Mason or equiva-lent), add the alcohol when the mix is still warm but not hot, and then put on the lid and shake well. Let macerate for 2 weeks, then decant and strain out the herb. Bottle and store out of the light.

Tincture dosage: 30-60 drops, up to 4x daily; or in acute conditions,

½-1 tsp, 3-6x daily.

As a douche: Add 15ml tincture to 470ml water, and mix well. Use as douche or skin wash. Douche twice daily, upon rising and before retiring, for 3 days.

As a wash: For impetigo (staph or strep infections of the skin), put the tincture, or a 1:1 dilution of the tincture with water, directly on the site of infection (using a cotton ball or cloth). Wash the site upon rising and before bed.

As a nasal spray: Combine 10 drops of tincture with water in a

1-ounce nasal spray bottle. Use as needed for bacterial infections of the nose and sinuses.

TEA

Combine 1 teaspoon herb with 170 ml hot water; let steep 20 minutes.

For disease prevention or immune stimulation: Drink 3 cups 3x daily.

In acute conditions: Drink up to 1 litre a day.

Note: Usnea is only partially water soluble. To make the strongest tea or decoction: Grind the herb first, then add enough alcohol to wet the herb and let it sit, covered, for 30 minutes to an hour. Then add hot water and let steep for 15-30 minutes.

Side Effects and Contraindications

Should not be used internally during pregnancy. May cause contact dermatitis.