Am'adou

Am'adou (Fr.) is obtained from two species of Hymenomycete Fungi, Polyporus ignarius (hard amadou, or touchwood) and P. fomentarius (soft amadou, or German tinder). They grow upon old trees in Britain, and on the continent of Europe. They are used as styptics for stanching slight wounds; and when steel and flint were in general use for striking fire, were much employed as tinder, being prepared for this purpose by boiling in a solution of nitre. Attempts have also been made at their cultivation. The soft amadou is used for making small surgical pads, for which its elasticity peculiarly fits it. It is also employed by the Laplanders and others for Moxa (q.v.). It is sometimes made into razor-strops, and this use is likewise made of P. betulinus.—P. officinalis, the Agaricon of Dioscorides, which grows upon larch-trees in the south of Europe, is a drastic purgative, now rarely employed. P. suaveolens, which grows upon the stems of willows, and is easily recognised by its anise-like smell, was formerly employed in medicine, in cases of consumption, under the name of Fungus salicis. All these species are very similar in appearance. Another species of the same genus, P. destructor, is one of the fungi known by the name of Dry Rot (q.v.).—The remarkably light wood of Hernandia quianensis, a shrub of the natural order Thymelæaceæ, is readily kindled by flint and steel, and is used in Guiana as amadou.