I
found this in a junk shop recently;
It's
a Hoof Fungus (Formes formentarius). It grows on various
hardwood trees and, occasionally, conifers. The one I found is
mounted on chipboard the formica veneer of which is peeling, an
unattractive backing not worthy of the magnificent fungus. With my
customary insight into these matters I deduced that someone had
attached the fungus to a plaque that had originally been used in a
perfumery as it is there that a word such as “Amadouvier” surely
belongs.
It
turns out that “Amadouvier” is French for Hoof Fungus. It's
somehow typical that the French word sounds suited to a perfume and
that the English version is reminiscent of athelete's foot.
Both
its English and French names refer to physical characteristics, the
English one is obvious, but the French term reveals a hidden and more sensual aspect – many say that it is ultimately derived from
the Latin ad manum dulce, “soft to the touch”.
“Amadouvier”
is linguistically derived from “Amadou” which is physically
derived from Amadouvier. Amadou is the “soft to the touch” spongy
material found within the fungus. When amadou is dried after soaking
in a solution of saltpetre the desiccated result is very easy to
ignite with a spark from, for instance, a flint - some French sources
claim that “amadou” is from a Provençal word meaning
amoureux/loving (“because it ignites so quickly”...). Such
tinder was among the possessions of “Ötzi the Iceman” who was
murdered 5,300 years ago and found, mummified by icy conditions, in
1991 in the Ötzal Alps (the mountains between Austria and Italy).
The
less spongy form of amadou (that nearer the surface) is used by
dry-fly fishermen to dry their flies. It is prepared by cutting it
into slices and boiling them for a few hours or soaking them for a
week in washing soda or urine. The dried end product (below) is one
of the most naturally absorbent materials known.
Amadou
can also be worked like leather or processed like felt (whose
processing also traditionally involved steeping in urine). These
crafts are still practiced in eastern Europe, various items are made
including table mats, handbags and headgear;
Mycologist
Paul Stamets sporting an amadou trilby. Very natty.
I
find something disturbing about this assembly of amadouvian
creations; a sort of nightmare in fawn dreamt up by Joseph Beuys.
