''Letharia vulpina'', commonly known as the wolf lichen (although the species name ''vulpina'', from ''vulpine'' relates to the
fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Parmeliaceae. It is bright yellow-green, shrubby and highly branched, and grows on the bark of living and dead
conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
s in parts of western and continental Europe and the Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains of North America. This species is somewhat toxic to mammals due to the yellow pigment
vulpinic acid
Vulpinic acid is a natural product first found in and important in the symbiosis underlying the biology of lichens. It is a simple methyl ester derivative of its parent compound, pulvinic acid, and a close relative of pulvinone, both of which de ...
, and has been used historically as a poison for wolves and foxes. It has also been used traditionally by many native North American ethnic groups as a pigment source for dyes and paints.
Description
The thallus, or vegetative body, has a fruticose shape — that is, shrubby and densely branched — and a bright yellow to yellow-green, or
chartreuse
Chartreuse () may refer to:
Food and drink
* Chartreuse (liqueur), a French liqueur
* Chartreuse (dish), a French dish of vegetables or meat tightly wrapped in vegetable leaves and cooked in a mould
Religion
* Carthusians, a Catholic religi ...
Like most lichens, ''L. vulpina'' is highly tolerant of freezing and low temperatures. In one set of experiments, the lichen was able to reactivate its metabolism after 15 hours of cold storage and resume photosynthesis within 12 minutes of thawing. It was also able to start photosynthesis while rewarming, still at below-zero temperatures (°C), suggesting that it may remain active during winter.Kallio P, Heinonen S. (1971). "Influence of short-term low temperature on net photosynthesis in some subarctic lichens." ''Reports of the Kevo Subarctic Research Station ''8:63–72.
Distribution and habitat
''Letharia vulpina'' occurs throughout the Pacific Northwest. It is often abundant on exposed branches that have lost their bark. In old, moist forests, it is typically found in drier areas. This species has an intermediate air pollution sensitivity. In the Rocky Mountains, ''Letharia'' species are found in ponderosa forests at the prairie-forest boundary at relatively low elevations though medium and high elevation Douglas fir and lodgepole pine forests.
Uses
Some
Plateau Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, also referred to by the phrase Indigenous peoples of the Plateau, and historically called the Plateau Indians (though comprising many groups) are indigenous peoples of the Interior of British Columbia ...
tribes used wolf lichen as a poultice for swelling, bruises, sores, and boils, and boiled it as a drink to stop bleeding.
The brightly colored fruiting bodies are popular in floral arrangements.
Dyeing
The
Klamath Klamath may refer to:
Ethnic groups
*Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon
**Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon
*Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people
Places in the United States
* ...
Indians in California soaked porcupine quills in a chartreuse-colored extract of ''Letharia vulpina'' that dyed them yellow; the quills were woven into the basket patterns.Vulpinic acid, poisonous dye in ''L. vulpina''.
Poison
The use of this species for poisoning wolves and foxes goes back at least hundreds of years, based on the mention of the practice in
Christoph Gedner Christoph is a male given name and surname. It is a German variant of Christopher.
Notable people with the given name Christoph
* Christoph Bach (1613–1661), German musician
* Christoph Büchel (born 1966), Swiss artist
* Christoph Dientzenhofe ...
's "Of the use of curiosity", collected in Benjamin Stillingfleet, ''Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Natural History, Husbandry and Physics'' (London, 1759). According to British lichenologist
Annie Lorrain Smith
Annie Lorrain Smith (23 October 1854 – 7 September 1937) was a British lichenologist whose ''Lichens'' (1921) was an essential textbook for several decades. She was also a mycologist and founder member of the British Mycological Society, whe ...
, reindeer carcasses were stuffed with lichen and powdered glass, and suggests that the sharp edges of the glass would make the animals' internal organs more susceptible to the effects of the lichen poison. However, it is known that the lichen itself is also effective—powdered lichen added to fat and inserted into reindeer carcasses will also be fatal to wolves that consume it. The toxic chemical is the yellow dye
vulpinic acid
Vulpinic acid is a natural product first found in and important in the symbiosis underlying the biology of lichens. It is a simple methyl ester derivative of its parent compound, pulvinic acid, and a close relative of pulvinone, both of which de ...
, which is poisonous to all meat-eaters, but not to mice and rabbits.
Similar species
The closely related ''Letharia columbiana'' lacks isidia and soredia, usually bearing instead apothecia. It is also less branched than ''L. vulpina''.
Gallery
File:Fruticose_lichen_branches_blackpine_lake.jpg, ''Letharia'' growing with '' Bryoria'' sp. on pine branches near Blackpine Lake, Washington
File:Letharia vulpina 9672.JPG, Soredia and isidia are present in this species, however it lacks apothecia of ''
Letharia columbiana
''Letharia columbiana ''(common name brown-eye wolf lichen, synonyms ''Letharia californica'', ''Borrera columbiana'') is a common lichen in subalpine forests, particularly in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and parts of Canada. It ...
''.
File:WolfLichenCloseup.jpg, Magnified view (approximately 1 cm width) of a wolf lichen found near Mt Hood in Oregon.
