Usnea cranii humani
From Kook Science
Usnea cranii humani (Arabic: usnea, "moss"; Latin: cranii humani, "human skull") or muscus cranii humani (Latin: muscus, "moss") is a moss or lichen that is found growing on a human skull,[1] formerly having been a component in late medieval European medicinal preparations, including the unguentum armarium (weapon-salve).
Reading
- Modenesi, Paolo (April 2009), "Skull Lichens: A Curious Chapter in the History of Phytotherapy", Fitoterapia 80 (3): 145-8
References
- ↑ Hooper, Robert (1817), Quincy's Lexicon-Medicum: A New Medical Dictionary, Philadelphia: M. Carey & Son, Benjamin Warner, and Edward Parker, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006304822 — specifically, Hooper reports it is lichen saxatilis, now known as parmelia saxatilis (crottle, salted shield lichen), adding that it was "formerly in high estimation, but is now deservedly forgotten."