PINEAPPLE FUNGUS OR ENFANT DE PIN 

 OR WABADOU 



J. H. Faull 



" There groweth also upon the larch tree a kind of mushrum 

 or excrescence, not such as is upon other trees, but whiter, softer, 

 more loose and spongie than any other of the mushrooms, and 

 good for medicine, which beareth the name of Agaricus or 

 Agaricke." In these words Gerard, in his Herbal (1597) for 

 English readers prefaced his account of the polypore, Fomes 

 officinalis (VilL). This fungus grows on the larches, Lari.v 

 europaea and L. sihirica, in many parts of Europe and Asia, and 

 according to Marie^ on the cedar of Lebanon in northern Africa. 

 Comparatively recently it was discovered by botanists in America 

 where it is now known to occur widely distributed and on at least 

 sixteen species of coniferous hosts distributed among the genera 

 Abies, Picea, Larix, Tsuga, Pinus and Pseudotsuga. 



To modern botanists Fomes officinalis^ is of main interest be- 

 cause of its parasitism and the decay it produces in timber ; but 

 formerly, back to earliest times, it was considered almost solely 

 because of its medicinal value. Dioscorides, Pliny, Galen, and 

 their successors down to the beginning of the last century ac- 

 corded it an important place in their writings on medicinal plants, 

 and it was recommended by them in the treatment of nearly all 

 the physical and the mental ills to which man is subject. There 



1 " II a" ete retrouve sur le cedre par M, Trabut a Teniet-el-Had, et par 

 nous-memes sur le Haizer. Ce champignon agit, par I'acide agaricinique qu'il 

 contient, en paralysant les nerfs des glandes sudoripares, d'ou son emploi pour 

 combattre les sueurs profuses des tuberculeux. A la dose de 2-3 gr., le P. 

 officinalis produit de la gastro-enterite ; mais il n'y a pas a redouter d'empoi- 

 sonnements par ce champignon, sa consistance ne permettant pas son emploi 

 en dehors de la therapeutique." Maire, R. : " Les Champignons veneneux 

 d'Algerie " — Bull, de la Soc. d'Hist. Not.: 7: 203. 1917. 



Cedre — Cedrus Libani Barrel. 



2 Faull, J. H. : Fomes officinalis (Vill.), A Timber-destroying Fungus, 

 Trans. Roy. Can. Inst. 11 : pi. 18-25, pp. 185-209. 1917. Full bibliography. 



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