Parmotrema perlatum
Parmotrema perlatum, commonly known as black stone flower or kalpasi, is a species of lichen used as spice in India. The species occurs throughout the temperate Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Typically used in meat dishes like nahari, Bombay biryani, Goat meat stews, it is also used in vegetarian dishes. It is one of the ingredients in East Indian Bottle Masala, used for cooking Meats, fish and vegetables.
Some of the other names for it include shaileyam in Sanskrit, kalpasi in Tamil, Dagar da Phool in Punjabi, dagad phool in Marathi, Raathi Pootha in Telugu "Kallu hoovu" in Kannada and patthar ke phool in Hindi, "Bojhwar"and "Chadila" in northern India.
