Faull: Pineapple Fungus 



271 



ing ?) somewhat like that of a man, by which means they are 

 readily located in the still forest. Herbarium specimen No. 3525, 

 University of Toronto Herbarium, is part of a large punk given 

 to me by an Indian family at Bear Id., in Temagami Forest Re- 

 serve, which was located in this manner and shot down by two 

 Indians on a hunting trip in the southern part of the Reserve 

 about 25 years ago. As it is scarce on the Reserve a fragment 

 is all they would willingly spare from their dwindling supply. 

 How the punks originate and what their relation to the trees 

 may be is a mystery. The Indians are certain they knew and 

 used this plant long before the whites came, but, however that 

 may be, it is certainly of great interest that their veneration of it 

 finds a counterpart in the veneration manifested by the Euro- 

 peans of more primitive days. 



Mr. J. W. Bartlett, Superintendent of Algonquin Park, who 

 has been intimately acquainted with the white pine areas of 

 Canada for nearly half a century, informs me that it was well 

 known to many of the early settlers and gathered by them for 

 various purposes. He found it fairly common throughout the 

 lumbering areas of Ontario and Quebec. Not only was it used 

 medicinally but also in the making of home brewed beer, and as a 

 substitute for hops in the making of yeasts. In the yeast making, 

 the fungus was boiled as in the case of hops and the liquid put 

 into the new yeast to start it working," in fact it probably serves 

 the same purpose as the lupulin of hops in holding bacteria in 

 check and so giving the yeast a chance to grow. Mr. Bartlett 

 learned of it from the settlers after he came to Canada more than 

 fifty years ago but does not know the source of their information. 

 A teacher in one of the mission schools in northern Ontario in- 

 formed me that she had known of the pineapple fungus " from 

 earliest recollections and that it had been a household medicine 

 in her home near Pembroke, Ontario. Her father would collect 

 it in the forest when cutting the wood for the winter. It was 

 regarded as especially valuable as a spring medicine and as such 

 was copiously administered to the children in season. Similar 

 information was received from various other persons in Ontario. 



Mr. W. F. Atkinson, Forest Engineer for the Spanish River 



