Botanical atlas

Agarikon

Laricifomes officinalis

Agarikon is one of the oldest named medicinal fungi in Western record. The Greek physician Dioscorides described it nearly two thousand years ago as a remedy for consumption and other troubles of the chest, and it carried a reputation across Europe for centuries afterward as a treatment for coughs and lingering lung complaints. In the old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest, Indigenous peoples including coastal groups of what is now Alaska and British Columbia held the fungus in deep regard, sometimes carving its tough flesh into ceremonial and spirit figures. Because agarikon depends on ancient, undisturbed forest, it has become increasingly rare, and modern researchers have taken a renewed interest in the same conks that healers once traveled great distances to find.

Safety.

Agarikon isn't known to be toxic, but it's poorly studied, so it's best avoided in pregnancy, nursing, and childhood, and used cautiously alongside immune-suppressing medication. Wild brackets should only be gathered by an experienced forager who can confirm the species.