268 



Mycologia 



can be little question but that the knowledge of its powers was 

 current among the inhabitants of Europe long before the era of 

 materia medica and that many superstitions were associated with 

 its use. But the history of F. officinalis in America is unknown, 

 and because of this I venture to bring together a few fragments 

 of information that have come to my hand. 



Fomes officinalis grows on white pine (Pinus Strobus) practi- 

 cally throughout its range in Ontario and Quebec, and this is the 

 only host that is definitely reported for these provinces. An 

 Ojibway ''medicine man," however, informed me that while 

 commonest on white pine, he had also collected it from large 

 tamaracks {Larix laricina) in the Georgian Bay Area, which 

 seems quite probable as this host is recorded for Wisconsin, and 

 hemlock {Tsuga canadensis) , which, if so, is a new host, but 

 never on red pine, jack pine, spruces, balsam, or arbor vitae. I 

 could find no trace of it further north than within the southern 

 limits of Temagami Forest Reserve, that is about 50 miles south 

 of the northern range of Pinus Strobus, and even there it is rare, 

 but from Georgian Bay, south and east it is so frequent as to be 

 well-known to the Indians, lumbermen, and settlers both in On- 

 tario and Quebec. With the cutting of the mature pine, however, 

 specimens of the sporophores are no longer easily obtainable, and 

 possibly at no time were abundant. According to the testimony 

 of several people of whom inquiries were made, the fruiting 

 bodies in some cases attain a very large size, up to 2 feet or more 

 in length and of many pounds weight. 



A plant so well-known was bound to receive a name ; indeed, 

 this plant bears at least three names, in as many dififerent lan- 

 guages, and none of these even distantly resemble any of the 

 common names employed in Europe. To the English settlers and 

 lumbermen the punks of Fomes officinalis pass under the name 

 '' pineapple " or ''pineapple fungus," to the French, "enfant de 

 pin," and to the Ojibway Indians, " wabadou." 



Elsewhere I have made a conjecture as to the origin of the term 

 " pineapple," and have expressed the opinion that we have a 

 retention here of a meaning akin to its original definition (pine- 

 apple tree was originally synonymous with pine tree, and meant 



