old thread, but I'm going to have to agree w/ pitdog on this- was in NM last month backpacking and was starting a fire to grill some fish.
all kinds of old man's beard in the Doug Fir so I gathered a bunch up to use as tinder- it had been hot, w/ almost 0 humidity-so if this stuff was going to burn- these were ideal conditions, well it didn't burn worth a $#1+-
in fact I think it actually inhibited ignition, once I got a fire going- adding kindling (small dry branches of doug fir) that had lichen on it would burn poorly, a stick off the same tree w/o lichen burned great- again this is under very ideal conditions
to be fair, there is another tree lichen that we call witches hair- it's black (vs grey) and stringier (thinner and longer) than old man's beard (we should probably come up w/ the scientific names as I'm sure there are all kinds of different names given locally
) and it (if dry) does make for a good tinder
all kinds of old man's beard in the Doug Fir so I gathered a bunch up to use as tinder- it had been hot, w/ almost 0 humidity-so if this stuff was going to burn- these were ideal conditions, well it didn't burn worth a $#1+-
in fact I think it actually inhibited ignition, once I got a fire going- adding kindling (small dry branches of doug fir) that had lichen on it would burn poorly, a stick off the same tree w/o lichen burned great- again this is under very ideal conditions
to be fair, there is another tree lichen that we call witches hair- it's black (vs grey) and stringier (thinner and longer) than old man's beard (we should probably come up w/ the scientific names as I'm sure there are all kinds of different names given locally
) and it (if dry) does make for a good tinder