620 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January 2, 1882. 
THE EDIBLE FUNGUS OF NEW ZEALAND. 
(Gardeners' Chronicle, 8th October 1881.) 
A fungus, the export value of which has reached to 
over £6,000 in one year and over £11,000 in another, 
must be deemed a matter of sufficient importance to be 
worthy a note. A New Zealand correspondent kindly 
furnishes us with samples of the fungus, Himeola poly- 
tricha, a near relative of the common Jew's-ear fungus 
of this country, together with some notes of Mr. Griffin, 
the American Consul at Auckland, from which we ex- 
tract the following : — 
" The New Zealand fungus known to commerce is 
found upon various kinds of decayed timber in the North 
Island, in what are called new bush settlements. It 
favours damp localities, and is very plentiful on the East 
Coast, south of the East Cape. It exists, however, in 
the greatest abundance in the province of Taranaki. 
This province is about 80 miles long and 70 broad. It 
is bounded on the north by the river Mokau, on the 
west and south by the sea, and on the east by a straight 
line from the mouth of the Patea river to a bend in 
the Wanganui river, and by another straight line con- 
necting the latter river with the source of the Mokau 
river. Within this region are the vast forests : indeed, 
not more than one-tenth of the entire province is com- 
posed of open land. The process of clearing the ground 
is very slow. The settlers often find their task so diffi- 
cult that they abandon then- work in one place and 
begin again in another. They lop off the branches of 
the trees and bum them, leaving the logs upon the 
ground, and as they are not removed soon begin to decay. 
The trees are well supplied with spurs, and fall in such 
a way as to partially rest upon them within a f ew feet 
of the ground. Sometimes the workmen erect scaffolds 
for the trees to fall upon. It is supposed that the 
growth of fungus is favoured by the trees being left in 
this way ; it is more probable, however, that some pecu- 
liarity of the climate has more to do with its growth 
than anything else. It requires very little trouble and 
no expense to prepare this valuable article of commerce 
for the market ; indeed, the only thing necessaiy to do 
is to gather it, and spread it out on the ground in the 
open ah', or under sheds to dry. I know a number of 
children who keep themselves in pocket-money by col- 
lecting it, and they have no difficulty in telling it from 
obnoxious and poisonous plants of similar growth. Very 
few men except those of idle and dissipated habits engage 
in the employment of collecting fungus, unless I except' 
the Maoris (or native inhabitants), who do not consider 
that occupation beneath their dignity. The fungus col- 
lected by the natives is generally dried in smoky huts, 
and is, on that account, nothing like as valuable as that 
prepared by the children of Europeans. As soon as it 
is dried it is put in flax baskets or jute bags, and sold 
to the dealer for what it will bring. It is then packed 
in bales and shipped to China by way of Sydney or San 
Francisco. Some of it goes direct to San Francisco, 
where it is either transhipped to Hongkong, or consumed 
by the Chinese population of our Pacific coast. At one 
time the profit upon fungus was something enormous, 
and it could be bought from the collectors at little 
more than 1 cent per pound, and sold in San Fran- 
cisco at 15 cents per pound, and 23 cents in Hongkong ; 
the prices, however, are fluctuating. Now that its market 
value has become better known, it is difficult to pur- 
chase it here, even in small lots, from the collectors 
for less than 8 to 10 cents per pound. It loses rapidly 
in weight by sbrinkage. 
" The Uses in China. 
" In 1873 the Government of New Zealand caused an 
inquiry to be made as to the purpose for which fungus 
is used in China, and some correspondence was had 
!'<•(•. <•«!>! tlm Colonial Secretary of New Zealand and the 
Colon in I Secretary nt Hongkong. The latter stated in 
one of his communications that the article was much 
prized by the Chinese community as a medicine, admin- 
istered in the shape of a decoction to purify the blood, 
and was also used on fast days with a mixture of vermi- 
celli and bean curd, instead of animal food. It is also 
said to be used in China and Japan for making a valu- 
able dye for silks. Since this correspondence it has been 
discovered that it is used by the Chinese principally as 
an article of food. It forms the chief ingredient of then' 
favourite soup, for which dish it is much prized on 
account of its gelatinous properties and its rich and delici- 
ous flavour. I send by this mail to the Department 
of State a small package of samples of fungus marked 
H., kindly furnished me by H. B. Morton, Esq., of this 
city, for examination and experiment. Mr. T. F. Cheese- 
man, the curator of the Auckland Museum, is of the 
opinion that the fragments of wood attached to one of 
the specimens is from a tree known to the Maories as 
Whau-whau-paku, or to botanists as Panax arboieum. 
The other specimens were doubtless found on the Karaka 
tree (Corynocarpus lrevigatus), or the Mahoe (Melicytus 
rarnifloiiTs), Kaiwhiria (Hedycarya dentata), Pubapuka 
(Brachyglottis repanda), and the Panax arboreum already 
mentioned, as well as on several other soft-wooded trees. 
Fungus appears to me to have a slightly pungent taste, 
although it is generally said to be tasteless. A few days 
ago I made soup out of some of the samples furnished 
me, but did not partake of it in sufficient quantities 
to be able to judge of its excellence as an article of 
food for civilised people ; but one of my Chinese neigh- 
bours, who happened to be passing my door while the 
soup was boiling, caught the aroma of it, and very kindly 
relieved me of any further trouble in trying to cultivate 
a taste for one of his favourite national dishes. 
The following table shows the quantity and value of 
fungus exported from New Zealand for each year since 
1872 :— 
Year. 
Tons. 
Value. 
Year. 
Tons. 
Value. 
1872 . 
58 
£1,927 
1877 
. 220 
£11,318 
1873 . 
95 
1,195 
1878 
. 173 
8,652 
1874 . 
118 
6,226 
1879 
. 59 
2,142 
1875 . 
112 
5,740 
1880 
. 165 
6,227 
1876 . 
132 
6,224 
The Prize Cacao Pod of theCeylou Season is certainly 
the magnificent specimen sent to us by Mr. Jobn 
Drummond of Gang- Warily, Western Dolosbage. It 
measures 10 inches in length, 14 inches in circumference, 
and weighs 21b. 5 ounces exactly. Mr. Drummond 
writes about it as follows :■ — By this post, I send you 
a large cacao pod to shew you what we can do in this 
corner of the world. You see we are improving. 
The pod which I sent you last year, and attracted 
attention, was under 2 lb. weight. I make out this 
one to be 2£ lb., but you had better test it. 
Ledgeriana Seed: Maskeliya, Ceylon: 30th Nov. — 
Very hot mornings and cloudy, showery evenings are 
the order of the day. The consequence is a general ripen- 
ing up of crop, and most of the estates in the 
centre valley have got in more than half their es- 
timates. Surely your correspondent " E. H. C." is a 
little " out of it " in advising green, of all colours, 
as the one to be applied to the glass on seed frames 
to moderate the heat. 1 thought it was the very 
colour to avoid as, while it keeps out the desirable 
light rays, it freely transmits all the heat rays. I 
think a common bamboo tat, on a light frame-work 
a foot or two abovts the gla.33, is the be3t, as it can 
be removed during the many monsoon days, when 
one is not troubled with too much heat or light. I 
do not think slowness in germinating any sign of 
purity in Ledger seed. I would interpret it as a 
sign of age— not desirable — equally with succirubr.i or 
officinalis, slowness in growth might mean freedom 
from any cross-fertilization. 
