Experts have warned people not to consume so-called “sexy pavement lichen” or powdered products made from the plant which claim to boost the libido, according to reports.
Botanists in New Zealand have said that while the native Xanthoparmelia scabrosa species may contain substances similar to Viagra, eating it is likely to be dangerous.
The lichen, if found out in the open rather than sold online, is also likely to be contaminated with environmental hazards like urine, vehicle exhaust and lead, according to scientists.
“This lichen contains a chemical somewhat analogous to Viagra – and somewhat toxic. I always say in my talks that I don’t recommend going out and licking the footpath,” Dr Allison Knight, who is credited with coining the plant’s eye-catching name, told Newsroom.
Dr Knight used the “sexy pavement lichen” moniker as a throw-away comment in a talk given to the Auckland Botanical Society a number of years ago, but the name eventually stuck.
Dr Knight, of New Zealand’s University of Otago, has urged consumers to be cautious of powdered lichen products sold online, with the products likely to be largely Viagra-type drugs cut with grass clippings.
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This particular lichen only grows in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific region, mainly in urban areas where it could also be contaminated with dog excrement and urine.
Harvesting real lichen in large quantities would be difficult because of how slowly it grows, she added, despite Xanthoparmelia scabrosa’s widespread distribution in the country.
Myriad such powders are available to buy on the Chinese Alibaba website, marketed as sexual performance enhancers. At least one capsule-based product was listed on Amazon. The are being sold for anything from a couple of dollars to up to nearly $300 (£248) a kilogram.
Dr Peter de Lange, another New Zealand botanist, relayed to Newsroom a description of the powders given to him by a former colleague.
“About the only thing that people would get from using that is a healthy dose of cadmium, arsenic, mercury and lead. Basically, anything that you would find in asphalt, roadsides, pavements. So it would actually do the exact opposite,” the expert told him.
