Can this be real?

It's amazing how a throwaway line can be picked up and takes on a life of its own.  A New Zealand botanist referred to a lichen, Xanthoparmelia scabrosa, as "Sexy Pavement Lichen" because it contains a PDE5 inhibitor.  See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3083877/

It appears that powdered X. scabrosa is being sold on-line as a Viagra alternative.  It has even been reported that people are actually licking sidewalks!  This is probably not a smart way to obtain a potential erectile disfuntion medication, as the inhibitor is not the same thing as Viagra and is also somewhat toxic, not to mention the contamination of the lichen from vehicle exhaust, dust and grit etc.

According to Tom Hale, writing for IFLScience, the US FDA analysed a sample of the powder bought on-line and found it consisted of 80% Viagra and 20% grass clippings (really?)