EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Wolf Lichen (Letharia vulpina)
Cascades Mountains, Oregon

Explanation:   Dangling from the snowy trunk of a Douglas-fir like an ornament on a natural Christmas tree, this is the brilliantly chartreuse wolf lichen.  It is common and widespread in old conifer forests of western North America, and is often harvested to be used in floral arrangements.  But don't put it in your soup; it contains poisonous vulpinic acid.

It earned its name because it was used successfully to kill wolves in Europe by baiting the animals with a rolled ball of this lichen, animal fat, and nails or ground glass.  The wolves may have died as much from the vulpinic acid as from ingesting the nails or glass.  In northern California, it was used by the Achomawi tribe to make poison arrowheads.

On a brighter note, First Nation peoples of interior British Columbia, Canada, have used the lichen as an important natural source of bright yellow dye to color baskets, furs, feathers, quills, wood, and cloth.  It was also boiled and taken to ameliorate internal ailments and to wash skin sores and wounds by the Okanagan-Colville tribe.  The lichen was traded to other native people along the coast.  

References:
     MacKinnon, A., J. Pojar, and R. Coupe. 1992. Plants of northern British Columbia. Lone Pine Publishing, Vancouver, B.C. 352 pp.
     Vitt, D., J. Marsh, and R. Bovey. 1988. Mosses lichens & ferns of northwest North America. Lone Pine Publishing, Canada. 296 pp.