Alectoria

ALEGTORIA - is a gem mentioned by Pliny (1. 37, c. 10), which is like crystal or clear water and he shows that this crystalline substance, which is as large as a horse bean, is found in the gizzard of poultry, or, as Albertus has it, of a castrated cock. It is found after the bird has attained the age of four years. It renders the possessor rich and of warlike aspect. And they report that Milo of Crotona was made invincible by such an Alectoria. It conciliates girls and quenches thirst. See also Solinus, etc. 

Alectoria ochroleuca methanol/ 4.29 dry sig nd tr nd minor major nd minor minor 1 minor 26... 

Detected in Siphula decumbens and in Alectoria sp. Prisms (MejCO). Mp 225°. 

StL Alectoria ochroleuca (Hoffm.) Mass., Evernia prunastri (L.) Ach. 

Deriv Alectosarmentin triacetate, crystals (acetone-MeOH), mp 210 °C, from alectosarmentin with ACjO-pyridine at room temperature in 12 h. Tri-O-methylalectosarmentin, needles (EtjO-n-hexane), mp 236 °C, from alectosarmentin with dimethyl sulphate-KjCOj under reflux in 3 h StL Alectoria sarmentosa Ach. 

Goh EM, Wilkins AL, Holland PT (1979) Structural elucidation of a new group of secostictane triterpenoids. J Chem Soc Perkin Trans 1 1560-1564 Gollapudi SR, Telikepalli H, Jampani HB, Mirhom YW, Drake SD, Bhattiprolu KR, van der Velde D, Mitscher LA (1994) Alectosarmentin, a new antimicrobial dibenzofuran lactol from the lichen, Alectoria sarmentosa. J Natural Prod 57 934-938 Gonzalez AG, Martin JD, Perez C (1974) Three new triterpenes from the lichen Xanthoria resendei. Phytochemistry 13 1547-1549... 

Snatzke G (1981) Chiroptische Methoden in der Stereochemie, Teil I. Chem Unserer Zeit 15 78-87 Snatzke G (1982) Chiroptische Methoden in der Stereochemie, Teil II. Chem Unserer Zeit 16 160-168 Solberg YJ (1967) Studies on the chemistry of lichens. VI. Chemical investigations of the lichen species Alectoria nigricans (Ach.) Nyl. and Parmelia alpicola Th.Fr. Z Naturforsch 22b 777-783... 

It was first isolated by German scientist W. Knop in 1844 and first synthesised between 1933 and 1937 by Curd and Robertson. Usnic acid was identified in many genera of lichens including Usnea, Cladonia, Lecanora, Ramalina, Evernia, Parmelia and Alectoria. 

The pendant Bryoria species were originally all lumped together as Lichen jubatus (Linnaeus 1753), which became Alectoria jubata (Acharius 1810). The taxonomy of Bryoria was not well understood until Brodo and Hawksworth (1977) created the genus Bryoria, so references to specific Bryoria species prior to that are ambiguous. 

Bryoria trichodes (Michaux) Brodo D. Hawksw. [Alectoria americana] ... 

Sugpiaq (Alaska, USA) nakuraartum nuyii or napam ungagua i Piled on sick person in the steam bath to hold the heat on his body, also used to staunch blood from wounds. Might also use Alectoria ochrolechia (Wennekens 1985)... 

Scandinavia Decoction for bathing chapped skin on babies and the feet of adults. Alectoria sp., Lobaria pulmonaria, and Pelligera aphthosa also used (Richardson 1974)... 

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