270 



Mycologia 



traders and coureurs de bois from Champlain's time and the In- 

 dians made annual visits to the French stations on the St. Law- 

 rence many years prior to Champlain's explorations, so that it 

 may well be that their first knowledge of it came from the French, 

 some of whom would certainly be well acquainted with a plant 

 so highly esteemed in European medicine at that time. It may be 

 noted in passing, however, that Dr. D. Lyall, an English botanist 

 attached to the British North American Boundary Commission, 

 1859-61, the discoverer of F. officinalis in America, reports that 

 the Indians of British Columbia employed this fungus as a medi- 

 cine. It is likewise interesting that Fomes officinalis was also 

 probably employed by the Iroquois. Mr. F. W. Waugh, the 

 author on an excellent work on Iroquois Foods and Food 

 Preparation" (Memoir 86, Geological Survey, Canada, 1916) 

 writes me, "Among the Iroquois, the Cayuga, Mohawk, and 

 probably other Iroquois tribes, a Fomes growing on pine is used 

 as a medicine for a variety of diseases, reliance being placed on 

 the supposed magical qualities of the fungus. Among the Onon- 

 daga it used to be shot with an arrow before being removed from 

 the tree. It was prepared in the form of a decoction." Never- 

 theless, while it seems quite possible that the Indians knew of 

 F. officinalis before the coming of the whites, no absolute proof 

 has been yet adduced that such was the case. It may be that 

 some one of the Jesuit Fathers has left a record that would 

 furnish an answer to this question. 



The Ojibway Indians still prize wabadou " as a household 

 remedy, considering it valuable for variq,us internal complaints 

 and at child birth. It is sometimes used dry, but is usually mixed 

 with the sapwood of arbor vitae taken from "the south side of 

 the tree " and boiled in water. The fruits, in the fanciful estima- 

 tion of the Indians, are best when gathered in the spring, and in 

 pulverizing should be scraped downward to be most efficacious. 

 I learned from several independent witnesses that while the punks 

 are of little value as charms and are sexless, yet they are surely 

 living objects for they are reputed to change their position of 

 their own accord, passing through the air from one tree to 

 another, and moreover they make a sound (moaning or groan- 



