Hiera with agaric
Hiera cum agarico
- Known today as
- Hiera picra, the bitter aloes compound, with added larch agaric (Laricifomes officinalis, syn. Fomitopsis officinalis, a polypore that grows on larch).
- Kind
- Compound
- Constituents
- aloin, agaric acid (agaricin), mastic and other correctives
- Poisoning
- The drastic resins
- In other databases
- GBIF search · Wikidata search
- In the Canale glossary
- On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Treatise One, Part Three, Chapters 2–3: Purgative and Preparative Medicines
Revised October 3, 2026: Checked against its sources, each read in full, in part, or in its abstract. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.
Hiera with agaric: what did Canale use it for?
Made into pills with lenitive electuary for phlegmatic patients (ch. 2).
Hiera with agaric: what does modern science say?
Aloes is a purgative, and in 2002 the U.S. FDA ruled aloe not generally recognized as safe and effective in over-the-counter laxatives; agaric is an irritant that may cause nausea, vomiting, and purging. Culpeper: “Look but the vertues of Agrick and ad them to the vertues of the former Receipt.”
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- aloin ChEMBL
- agaric acid (agaricin)from the larch polypore
- mastic and other correctives
- Mechanism
- Hiera picra with agaric added: the aloes acts mainly on the large intestine, and agaric is an irritant that may cause nausea, vomiting, and purging.
- Toxic dose
- Culpeper thought the pills “as harmless a purge, as most is in their Dispensatory,” a scruple at night.
- Syndrome
- The drastic resins
- Standing
- Obsolete.
- Culpeper, N. (1653). Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, “Hiera cum Agarico.” Read in part · the text read
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
In Their Own Words
The London College's Hiera with Agarick, as Culpeper gives it, is species hiera without aloes and trochiscated agaric, with unwashed aloes and clarified honey, made into an electuary.
“Take of species Hiera, simple without Aloes, Agarick trochiscated, of each half an ounce, Aloes not washed one ounce, clarified Honey six ounces, mix it, and make it into an electuary according to art.”
Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, The College's electuaries, 'Hiera with Agarick'. London: Thomas Kelly, 17, Paternoster Row, MDCCCL (Project Gutenberg eBook #49513). The text, read in part
The College also made Pills of Hiera with Agarick, of species hiera picra, agaric and aloes in a mass with honey of roses.
“Take of Species Hiera Picra, Agarick, of each half an ounce, Aloes one ounce, Honey Roses so much as is sufficient to make it into a mass according to art.”
Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, The College's pills, 'Pilulæ de Hiera cum Agarico'. London: Thomas Kelly, 17, Paternoster Row, MDCCCL (Project Gutenberg eBook #49513). The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
The Recipe
The recipe: 2 ingredients, each linked to its entry. For Club members. Create a free account or sign in.
Sources
- [9] Bennett, P. I., Bair, Z. J., Bradshaw, A. J., & Stamets, P. (2026). Genomic characterization of the endangered medicinal polypore agarikon (Laricifomes officinalis syn. Fomitopsis officinalis). G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, advance article jkag237. doi:10.1093/g3journal/jkag237 Abstract read · the text read
- [16] The British Pharmaceutical Codex (1911). London: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Monographs as transcribed at Henriette’s Herbal Homepage, henriettes-herb.com. Read in full · the text read
- [28] Culpeper, N. (1653). Pharmacopœia Londinensis, or, The London Dispensatory [the Royal College of Physicians’ pharmacopoeia in English, with Culpeper’s commentary]. London: Peter Cole. Text Creation Partnership edition A35381. Read in part · the text read
- [45] U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2002). Status of certain additional over-the-counter drug category II and III active ingredients: final rule. Federal Register 67: 31125–31127, 9 May 2002. Read in full · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026, and October 3, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Every source read, in full, in part, or in its abstract, and every sentence checked against what was read (October 3, 2026)
- Sources
- 5 cited: 2 read in full, 2 read in part, 1 abstract read. 1 with the abstract on file.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 3, 2026
- Chicago
“Hiera with agaric.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 3, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hiera-with-agaric.
- MLA
“Hiera with agaric.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hiera-with-agaric. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Hiera with agaric. (2026, October 3). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hiera-with-agaric
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See Also
Poisoned alike: the drastic resins
Indian and Arabian pills · Hiera of Pacchius · Indian electuary, greater and lesser · Hamech, confection of · Lapis lazuli, pills of · Golden pills · Troche of agaric · Gamboge · the syndrome, with all of them →
Sharing aloin, agaric acid (agaricin)
Drawing on the same sources: Culpeper
Nearby in the alphabet
The Holy Name, IHS (the first three letters of Jesus in Greek, often within a sunburst) · Holy water (usually with exorcized salt mixed in) · The holy water stoup (and the small stoups kept in homes) · Herb Paris (true-lover’s knot, a woodland plant with a single black berry) · Holy wells (many of them sacred long before Christianity, visited for cures) · Herb bennet (of the rose family, with a root that smells of cloves)
Historical description, not medical advice.