Fungi have a lot of different uses for humanity. They can clean up the soil and oceans, act as building materials, and you can even be buried in a suit of fungi to break down your body after you die. Creepy!
This mushroom, the “big wood conk” is the world’s longest living mushroom and has been used by native people to address a variety of ailments, like coughing, asthma, arthritis, bleeding and some infections. The Greeks believed that it could treat Tuberculosis and serve as an elixir for a long life.
According to the Cornell University mycology blog:
The key pharmaceutically-active compound found in Fomitopsis officinalis is Agaricin (or agaric acid), a white, water-soluble powder that can be administered both orally and topically. Agaricin is an anhidrotic, anti-inflammatory, and parasympatholytic agent, and is now produced synthetically by many pharmaceutical companies.
Interestingly, the medicinal properties of Fomitopsis officinalis are believed to have been discovered independently by the i...
