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What lichen is

A lichen is a hybrid colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among filaments of fungi. Lichens have been used in making dyes, perfumes and traditional medicines.

Oakmoss and tree moss

Oakmoss, Evernia prunastri, is a species of lichen found in many mountainous temperate forests throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It grows primarily on the trunk and branches of oak trees. Tree moss, Pseudevernia furfuracea, is a lichenized species of fungus that grows on the bark of firs and pines. Oakmoss is collected across central and southern Europe, and also in Morocco and Algeria.

Harvest and trade

Oakmoss is commercially harvested in countries of South-Central Europe and usually exported to the Grasse region of France, where its fragrant compounds are extracted as oakmoss absolutes and extracts. The lichen is collected especially in Macedonia and Bulgaria. Approximately 1900 tons of tree moss were processed in Grasse, France, in 1997.

Chemistry

Oakmoss absolute is a complex mixture of various constituents. Atranol and chloroatranol are constituents of oakmoss absolute. Atranol is 2,6-dihydroxy-4-methylbenzaldehyde, with the formula C₈H₈O₃. Atranorin, evernic acid, fumarprotocetraric acid, stictic acid and usnic acid are regarded as some of the responsible sensitisers in oakmoss extracts. Tree moss contains atranorin, oxyphysodic acid and virensic acid. Two commercial samples of treemoss absolute contained resin acids at 11.4% and 8.1% by weight, the major components being dehydroabietic acid with abietic acid and its isomers.

Regulation

Oakmoss is one of 26 allergens that since 2003 has to be included in the list of ingredients on cosmetic products sold in the European Union. The IFRA Standards set purity criteria limiting atranol and chloroatranol in the 43rd Amendment of 2008. In 2017 the EU adopted a regulation prohibiting atranol and chloroatranol as cosmetic ingredients beyond trace levels. From 2019 on, no new products containing them above trace amounts, that is untreated oakmoss, may be introduced to the EU market. An IFRA Standard on treemoss extracts was published in January 2020, in the 49th Amendment.

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