When Cladonia rangiferina is scarce, a few other lichens[1249] are made use of, Alectoria jubata, a brownish-black filamentous tree-lichen being one of the most frequent substitutes. Stereocaulon paschale, which grows in large dense tufts on the ground in mountainous regions, is also eaten by reindeer and other animals; and Iceland moss, Cetraria islandica, is stored up in large quantities by the Icelanders and used as fodder. Willemet[1250] reports it as good for horses, oxen, cows and pigs.
It is interesting to recall a discovery of prehistoric remains at the Abbey of Schussenried on the Lake of Constance and described by F. Keller[1251]: under successive beds of peat and crumbly tufa, there was found a layer, 3 feet thick, containing flints, horns of reindeer and bones of various animals, and, along with these, masses of reindeer moss; a sufficient proof of its antiquity as a fodder-plant.
d. Food for Man. Lichens contain no true starch nor cellulose, but the lichenin present in the cell-walls of the hyphae has long been utilized as a food substance. It is peculiarly abundant in Cetraria islandica ([Fig. 128]), which grows in northern countries, covering great stretches of ground with its upright strap-shaped branching fronds of varying shades of brown. In more southern lands it is to be found on high hills or on upland moors, but in much smaller quantities. Commercial “Iceland moss” is supplied from Sweden, Norway or Iceland. In the last-named country the inhabitants harvest the lichen preferably from bare stony soil where there is no admixture of other vegetation. They revisit the locality at intervals of three years, the time required for the lichen to grow to a profitable size; and they select the wet season for the ingathering of the plants as they are more easily detached when they are wet. If the weather should be dry, they collect it during the night. When gathered it is cleansed from foreign matter and washed in water to remove as much as possible of the bitter principle. It is then dried and reduced to powder. When required, the powder is put to macerate in water for 24 hours, or it is soaked in a weak solution of soda or of carbonate of potassium, by which means the bitter cetraric acid is nearly all eliminated. When boiled[1252] it yields a jelly which forms the basis of various light and easily digested soups or of other delicacies prepared by boiling in milk, which have been proved to be valuable for dyspeptics or sufferers from chest diseases. The northern nations also make the powder into bread, porridge or gruel. Johnson[1253] states in his account of “Useful Plants” that considerable quantities of Iceland moss were formerly employed in the manufacture of sea biscuit, and that ship’s bread mixed with it was said to be less liable to the attacks of weevil than when made from wheat flour only.
An examination of the real food value of the mucilaginous extract from “Iceland moss” has been made by several workers. Church[1254] states that for one part of flesh formers, there are eight parts of heat-givers reckoned as starch. Brown[1255] isolated the two carbohydrates, lichenin and isolichenin. The former, a jelly which yields on hydrolysis a large quantity of a reducing sugar, dextrose, ferments with yeast and gives no phloroglucin reaction; it is unaffected by digestion and probably does not form glycogen. Iso-lichenin is much less abundant and resembles soluble starch, but on digestion yields only dextrins—no sugar. It may be concluded, judging from the chemical nature of the mucilage, from the resistance of its constituents to digestion and from the small amount present in the jelly, that its nutritive value is practically nil[1256].
It has been stated that “reindeer moss” in times of food scarcity is powdered and mixed with “Iceland moss” and rye to make bread in North Finland. Johnson confirms this and cites the evidence of a Dr Clarke that: “to our surprise we found we might eat of it with as much ease as of the heart of a fine lettuce. It tasted like wheat-bran, but after swallowing it, there remained in the throat and upon the palate a gentle heat, or sense of burning, as if a small quantity of pepper had been mixed with the lichen.”
The Egyptians[1257] have used Evernia prunastri, more rarely E. furfuracea, in baking. In the eighteenth century fermentative agents such as yeast were unknown to them, and these lichens, which were imported from more northern lands, were soaked in water for two hours and the solution then mixed with the flour to give a much appreciated flavour to the unleavened bread.
In India[1258] a species of Parmelia (near to P. perlata) known in the Telegu language as “rathapu” or rock-flower has been used as a food, generally prepared as a curry, by the natives in the Bellary district (Madras Presidency), and is esteemed as a delicacy. It is also used medicinally. The collecting of rathapu is carried on during the hot weather in April and May, and forms a profitable business.
A note has been published by Calkins[1259], on the authority of a correspondent in Japan, that large quantities of Endocarpon (Dermatocarpon) miniatum ([Fig. 56]) are collected in the mountains of that country for culinary purposes, and largely exported to China as an article of luxury. The local name is “iwataka,” meaning stone-mushroom. Properly prepared it resembles tripe. It is possibly the same lichen under a different name, Gyrophora esculenta, which is described by Manabu Miyoshi[1260] as of great food value in Japan where it is known as “iwatake.” It is a greyish-brown leathery “monophyllous” plant of somewhat circular outline and fairly large size, measuring 3 to 13 cm. across. Fertile specimens are rare, and are smaller than the sterile. It grows generally on the steep declivities of damp granitic rocks and is common in various districts of Japan, being especially abundant on such mountains as Kiso, Nikko, Kimano, etc. The face of the precipices is often thickly covered with the lichen growth. The inhabitants collect the plants in large quantities. They dry them and send them to the towns, where they are sold in all vegetable stores; some are even exported to other countries. These lichens are not bitter to the taste, nor are they irritating as are other species of the genus. They are on the contrary quite harmless and are much relished by the Japanese on account of their agreeable flavour, in spite of their being somewhat indigestible. Though only determined scientifically in recent times, this edible lichen has long been known, and the risks attending its collection have frequently been described in Old Chinese and Japanese writings.
