Troche of agaric

Statema, B. C. P.

Fungus

Troche of agaric

Trocisci di agarico

Known today as: Lozenges of larch agaric, Laricifomes officinalis (syn. Fomitopsis officinalis), a bracket fungus.
Kind: Fungus, in 1 older authority
Constituents: agaricic acid, agaricol, resins
Poisoning: The drastic resins
Earliest authority here: Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
In other databases: GBIF search · Wikidata search
In the Canale glossary: On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Part Three, Chapter 4: Stronger Purgatives and Compound Medicines

Revised October 1, 2026: An older authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.

Troche of agaric: what did Canale use it for?

In the purge for phlegmatic patients (ch. 4).

Troche of agaric: what does modern science say?

Larch agaric is a genuine irritant purgative, and was later used chiefly to check the sweats of wasting disease. It is no longer used as a purgative, though it is still sold as a medicinal mushroom (agarikon).

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

agaricic acid ChEMBLa hydroxy-tricarboxylic acid, 15–20 per cent
agaricol
resins

Mechanism

The agaric of the old pharmacy is the larch polypore (Laricifomes officinalis), not a mushroom: agaricic acid is a drastic purgative that irritates the gut and in small doses dried the night sweats of consumptives, its one use kept into the twentieth century; it blocks the mitochondrial citrate carrier and the adenine nucleotide translocase, and the sweat glands by a local action. The troche was the resin corrected with ginger or mastic against the griping.

Toxic dose

A few grains stop sweating; a dram purges violently.

Syndrome

The drastic resins

Standing

Obsolete; the fungus is now rare in Europe and listed in several national red lists.

Grienke, U., et al. (2014). “European medicinal polypores: a modern view on traditional uses.” Journal of Ethnopharmacology 154. Verified against its record · doi:10.1016/j.jep.2014.04.030

The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.

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.

Used in These Compounds

Troche of agaric is an ingredient of 2 compound medicines in the database. For Club members. Create a free account or sign in.

Troche of agaric: what did the older authorities say?

Pliny: Describes agaric as “a fungus of a white colour, upon the trees in the vicinity of the Bosporus,” given in doses of four oboli beaten up in two cyathi of oxymel, the Galatian kind less efficacious; the male firmer and more bitter and “productive too of head-ache,” the female of looser texture, sweet at first and then bitter; after a poisoning, once the patient has vomited, agaric in one denarius with three cyathi of hydromel; and for spitting of blood, in honied wine.

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
[37] Elkhateeb, W. A., Daba, G. M., Elnahas, M. O., & Thomas, P. W. (2019). Fomitopsis officinalis mushroom: ancient gold mine of functional components and biological activities for modern medicine. Egyptian Pharmaceutical Journal 18(4): 285–289. doi:10.4103/epj.epj_46_19 Verified against its record · doi:10.4103/epj.epj_46_19
[54] Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal. Online edition, botanical.com, cited under the plant concerned. Read in part · the text read

Pliny the Elder, Natural History 25.57, 25.79, 26.19, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library. Primary text

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026

Passes

Every sentence read against its sources, in the fifty-entry sample
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
Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full

Sources

7 cited: 1 read in full, 2 read in part, 1 abstract read, 2 verified against its record, 1 primary text. 2 with the abstract on file.

Corrections

said agaricic acid inhibits citrate synthase. It inhibits the mitochondrial citrate carrier and the adenine nucleotide translocase.

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 1, 2026

Chicago: “Troche of agaric.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/troche-of-agaric.
MLA: “Troche of agaric.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/troche-of-agaric. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Troche of agaric. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/troche-of-agaric

Download for Zotero, EndNote, or Mendeley: BibTeX · RIS

Club members keep entries on a shelf with private notes, print the plates as cards, and receive an entry by email each week. Create a free account before January 1, 2027 and all of it is yours for good. About the Club