# Hiera with agaric (Laricifomes officinalis)

**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  
Poisoning: The drastic resins (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/drastic-resin)

## What did Canale use it for?

Made into pills with lenitive electuary for phlegmatic patients (ch. 2).

## 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 and toxicology

- **aloin**: 
- **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.

**Dose.** Culpeper thought the pills “as harmless a purge, as most is in their Dispensatory,” a scruple at night.

**Standing.** Obsolete.

## Sources

- Culpeper, N. (1653). *Pharmacopoeia Londinensis*, “Hiera cum Agarico.”

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*Hiera with agaric.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-03. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hiera-with-agaric

Historical description, not medical advice.