Letaria vulpina

Letharia vulpina (wolf-lichen) grows on old dead pine-snags, but can also grow on dead branches on living pine trees, and rare on other trees. It needs much light, and are therefor not abundant in lush forests. Most common you find it close to bogs and small hills in the mountainous forest. Its easy recognisable on its sharp green/yellow colour. Real old pine trees and forests are rare in the Norwegian. Letaria vulpina is therefore quite rare, and classified as care demanding on the redlist. Its rare due to early days forestry which removed the oldest, dead and dying trees. Today are one of the biggest threats logging of dead snags for firewood. The remaining monumental dead pines must therefor be left standing. In stead of cutting down a whole tree, use dead branches from living trees to make a fire for boiling your coffee. The lichen has a lethal poison. In earlier days, it was common to put small pieces of glass and wolf-lichen in pieces of meat make wolf and fox eat it. This made the animals to bleed, and the poison was absorbed by the veins, and after the blood system had absorbed the poison, the animals died. The name of the lichen comes from barbarous tradition.