40 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jaw., 1898. 
A NEGLECTED NATURAL PRODUCT. 
THE EAR FUNGUS: A CHINESE SOUP PLANT. 
(See Prave.) 
Tur accompanying illustration represents a fungus of more than ordinary 
commercial importance, and one which is very abundant in most of our scrubs 
on logs and fallen branches. It seems to be partial to trees of the Nettle 
Family; thus is often plentiful where these trees abound. In England the Rey. 
M. J. Berkeley tells us that it is most abundant on the elder, but is occa- 
sionally found upon the elm. At one time this fungus had a reputation for 
medicinal virtues, particularly as an ingredient in gargles, which may have 
arisen from the resemblance of the hymenium to the fauces. The great 
market ‘for this product is China, where it is used for compounding those 
gelatinous dishes of which those people are so fond. The Chinese mode of 
cultivating this plant is to cut down small trees of their oak (Quercus sinensis), 
and cut them into poles from 6 to 10 ft. long and 3 to 6 in. diameter ; these are 
. left to rot on the ground for a year. In the following spring, when the wood 
has become more or less rotten, the poles are erected into a kind of shed, 
when the fungus springs spontaneously from the bark in all directions, and 
continues to produce crops of the fungus for about two years. Dr. M. C. 
Cooke (from whom I quote) says that the price paid to collectors for this 
product is 1d. to 23d. per lb.; that New Zealand exported between the years 
1872 and 1883 no less than 1,858 tons, valued at £79,752. Chemical analysis 
proves it poor in albuminoid or muscle-forming substances; thus it will only 
find favour as a food with people, like the Chinese, fond of the mucilaginous 
property with which this fungus abounds. The fungus belongs to the genus 
Hirneola, of which the species common to Queensland scrubs are—A. auriformis, 
Schw.; H. polytricha, Mont.; H. auricula-Juda@, Linn.; and H. rufa, Berk. All 
these might be collected, for the distinction between them is very slight, 
and only observable to the mycologist. The most plentiful is . polytricha, 
which is also the most abundant in New Zealand. 
PLANTS REPUTED POISONOUS TO STOCK. 
PRICKLY LETTUCE; OR LACTUCA SCARIOLA, I1xy. 
_ (See Prats.) 
Tus European weed, which some ten years ago overrun the farms of the 
Rosewood district, has during the past few months obtained a good footing in 
the enclosed land about the Central Railway Station, and, if nothing is done to 
check it, we may next season expect to see all vacant spots in and around the 
city covered with the pest. This and its close ally, Z. eirosa, or Acrid Lettuce, 
yield a kind of opium. When so abundant at the Rosewood, it was thought to 
have caused the death of several cows. 
