Ag'a-rīc, n.

n. [Lat. agaricon, N. Lat. agaricus, Gr. ἀγαρικόν, from Agara, a town in Sarmatia, Diosc.] (Bot.) (a.) The name of a large family of fungi, including the common mushrooms. Loudon. (b.) An excrescence which grows upon the trunks of trees, used for tinder, and in dyeing, and in medicine as a cathartic and a styptic; touchwood; Boletus.

Agaric mineral, a light, chalky deposit of carbonate of lime, rubbing to a powder between the fingers; sometimes called rock-milk; formed in caverns or fissures of limestone. Dana. — Male agaric, a white variety of agaric (Boletus laricis), growing upon the European larch. — Female agaric, the brown variety (Boletus igniarius), growing on the oak.