Tag: Asplenium

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Herbs & Plants

Walking fern

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Botanical Name ; Asplenium rhizophyllum
Family: Aspleniaceae
Genus: Asplenium
Species: A. rhizophyllum
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pteridophyta
Class: Pteridopsida
Order: Polypodiales

Synonyms: Camptosorus sibiricus

Common Names: American Walking Fern, Walking fern

Habitat :Asplenium rhizophyllum is native to North America.

Description:
Asplenium rhizophyllum is a perennial fern consists of a small tuft of low simple leaves. The leaf blades are 2-12″ long and ¼–2″ across; they are lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, often with tips that are very slender and long. The base of the blade is either cordate or it may have a pair of eared basal lobes (auriculate); the margins are smooth and slightly undulate. The upper blade surface is medium to dark green and glabrous, while the lower surface is pale green; occasionally there is some sparse pubescence. The slender stipes are shorter than the blades and about ¼–4″ in length. They are brown at the base, becoming green where the stipe joins the blade. Fertile and infertile leaf blades are similar in appearance, except the former is often longer than the latter. The sori (spore-bearing structures) are located on the undersides of fertile leaf blades; they are scattered irregularly across the lower surface at the vein junctures. The small sori are elongated in shape with laterally attached indusia (protective membranes). The tiny spores of the sori are released during the summer or fall and distributed by the wind. The root system consists of a short rhizomatous crown that produces the leaves and slender fibrous roots. This fern can reproduce vegetatively when the tips of the leaf blades root into the ground, developing new tufts of leaves around the mother plant. As a result, vegetative colonies of plants are often encountered.

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Cultivation:
This fern prefers light to dense shade, moist humid conditions, and thin rocky soil. It requires a sheltered location where it gets protection from the wind.

Medicinal Uses;
Cherokee Indians used Asplenium rhizophyllum in medicine .  Those that dreamt of snakes drank a decoction of liverwort (Hepatica acutiloba) and Asplenium rhizophyllum to produce vomiting, after which dreams do not

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asplenium_rhizophyllum
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/grasses/plants/walking_fern.htm
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_UZ.htm

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Herbs & Plants

Blechnum orientale Linn.

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Botanical Name : Blechnum orientale Linn.
Family: Blechnaceae
Synonym(s): Blechnopsis orientalis (L.) Presl.
English Name: Shield Fern
Local name: Pakong-alagdan (Tag.).

Habitat : Pakong-alagdan is widely distributed in the Philippines. It is also found throughout India, Ceylon, and the Malay Peninsula and extends to the Malay Islands, tropical Asia, Polynesia, and Australia.

Description:
A robust fern. Caudex stout, erect, stipes 70 cm long, bearing small auricles; fronds 150 cm long, pinnae numerous, close, oblique; sori in a long continuous line close to the midrib.

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES
The caudex is stout, erect and densely covered with glossy brown scales. The stipes are erect, 10 to 40 centimeters long. The fronds are 20 to 200 centimeters long and 10 to 40 centimeters wide. The pinnae are 5 to 20 centimeters long and 0.5 to 2 centimeters wide and sessile. The sori are arranged in a long continuous line close to the costre.

Constituents and properties:-
Considered anthelmintic, antiviral, contraceptive and tonic.
Phytochemistry showed essential oil, phenolic compounds and triterpenoids.

Medicinal uses:

Folkloric
Used as poultife for boils.
Used for urinary complaints.
In China, the rhizomes are used as anthelmintic.
The Malays eat them.
In India, used for impotence; boils in infants and older children, diarrhea,
Used to stop wound bleeding.
In Malaysia, used for abscesses, blisters and sores; poultice of young leaves for furuncles and boils.
One of the plants used for fungal skin infections, esp ringworm: Plant is pounded with some kerosene and applied to affected areas. (source)
In Papua New Guinea, new fronds are eaten to induce sterility in women. (source)

Studies:-
• Antibacterial: Antibacterial effect could come from the bioactive constituents of essential oil, phenolic compounds and triterpenoids.Study showed antibacterial activity, greatest against P vulgaris and less with B subtilis and S aureus.
• Studies on immunomodulatory and anthelmintic properties.
• Blechnum orientale is one of the herbal components of Blechni Rhizoma, an anti-viral formulation. (souirce)
• Cytotoxicity / Breast Cancer: In vitro studies on the cytotoxic potential of three plants – Blechnum orientale, Tectaria singaporeana and Tacca integrifolia showed the roots displayed the highest cell mortality. All three plants – roots, leaves and stems – showed cytotoxic potential.
• Polyphenols / Antioxidative / Antibacterial: Study of the leaf extracts of five medicinal ferns – A aureum, Asplenium nidus, Blechnum orientale, C barometz and D linearis– showed B orientale to possess the highest amount of total polyphenols and strongest potential as antioxidant, tyrosinase inhibition and antibacterial.

Click to see : Blechnum Orientale Linn – a fern with potential as antioxidant, anticancer and antibacterial agent

Herb Effects:Antiviral, anthelmintic, female contraceptive.

According to Caius the rhizomes are used in China as an anthelmintic. Burkill reports that the Malays eat them. They also poultice boils with them. Hooper found the rhizome among drugs from Chinese pharmacies in the Straits. It seems that the Chinese use it in urinary complaints.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://www.impgc.com/plantinfo_A.php?id=698
http://www.2010taipeiexpo.tw/ct.asp?xItem=39619&ctNode=5719&mp=3
http://www.fernsiam.com/FernWorld/Taxonomy/BLECHNACEAE/Blechnum/

Click to access pakong-alagdan.pdf

http://www.bpi.da.gov.ph/Publications/mp/html/p/pakong-alagdan.htm

http://www.stuartxchange.com/Pakong-alagdan.html

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