Umbilicaria esculenta
Iwatake gathering at Kumano in Kishū, by Hiroshige II.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Ascomycota
Class:	Lecanoromycetes
Subclass:	Lecanoromycetidae
Order:	Lecanorales
Suborder:	Lecanorineae
Family:	Umbilicariaceae
Genus:	Umbilicaria
Species:	U. esculenta
Binomial name
Umbilicaria esculenta (Miyoshi) Minks

Umbilicaria esculenta is a lichen of the genus Umbilicaria that grows on rocks. It can be found in East Asia including in China, Korea and Japan. It is edible when properly prepared and has been used as a food source and medicine. It is called seogi (hangul: 석이; hanja: 石耳; literally "stone ear" or "rock ear") in Korean and iwatake (kanji: 岩茸 or 石茸) in Japanese.

Korean pan-fried Umbilicaria esculenta

The species name is based on the earlier basionym Gyrophora esculenta.

[edit] References

• Moo-Sung Kim; Hong-Bum Cho (December 2007). Melanogenesis Inhibitory Effects of Methanolic Extracts of Umbilicaria esculenta and Usnea longissima. 45. The Journal of Microbiology. pp. 578–582. http://www.msk.or.kr/jsp/downloadPDF1.jsp?paperSeq=2605&fileName=45(6)_17.pdf. 

[edit] External links

• Umbilicaria esculenta entry at Index Fungorum
• ZipCodeZoo
• Gyrophora esculenta entry at Index Fungorum
• Japanese drawings showing the harvesting of U. esculenta

[edit] See also

Fungi portal

• Rock tripe