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Herbs & Plants

Asplenium Adiantum nigrum

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Botanical NameAsplenium Adiantum nigrum
Family: Aspleniaceae /  Polypodiaceae
Genus: Asplenium
Species: A. adiantum-nigrum
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pteridophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Polypodiales

Synonym: Black Maidenhair.

Common Name:Black spleenwort

Habitat : Asplenium Adiantum nigrum  is found mostly in Africa, Europe, and Eurasia, but is also native to a few locales in Mexico and the United States.It grows on Rocky woods, hedgebanks, shady walls and rocks

Description:
Asplenium adiantum-nigrum is an evergreen Fern growing to 0.5 m (1ft 8in).This spleenwort has thick, triangular leaf blades up to 10 centimeters long which are divided into several subdivided segments. It is borne on a reddish green petiole and the rachis is shiny and slightly hairy. The undersides of each leaf segment have one or more sori arranged in chains.
CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES
Lowest pinnules of middle pinnae c 6-10 mm.  Lowest pinnae 2-6 cm

ID: Stalk blackish, rachis green except at base.  Midrib of pinna has characteristic winged appearance, see pic on left.  Lowest pinnae longest, overall shape narrow-triangular.

Other features: Leaves are rather leathery and glossy.  Sori are linear, on veins, covering much of the underside of the pinna.
It is hardy to zone 6. It is in leaf 12-Jan, and the seeds ripen from Jun to October.

Cultivation:  
Requires a partly shaded site with preferably less than 3 hours sunshine daily. Plants can be grown in old brick walls. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer.

Propagation:
Spores – best sown as soon as they are ripe on the surface of a humus-rich sterilized soil. Keep the compost moist, preferably by putting a plastic bag over the pot. Germinates in spring. Spring sown spores germinate in 1 – 3 months at 15°c. Pot on small clumps of plantlets as soon as they are large enough to handle and grow them on in light shade in a cold frame or greenhouse. Keep them humid until they are well established. When they are at least 15cm tall, plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer.

Medicinal Uses:
The plant is bitter, diuretic, laxative and ophthalmic. It is taken internally to treat diseases of the spleen, jaundice and ophthalmia. It is said to produce sterility in women. A decoction or syrup made from the fronds is emmenagogue, expectorant and pectoral. It is used to relieve troublesome coughs.

Other Uses:  
Hair………A decoction of the herb is a good hair wash.

 Known Hazards: Although there is no reports of toxicity for this species, a number of ferns contain carcinogens so some caution is advisable[200]. Many ferns also contain thiaminase, an enzyme that robs the body of its vitamin B complex. In small quantities this enzyme will do no harm to people eating an adequate diet that is rich in vitamin B, though large quantities can cause severe health problems. The enzyme is destroyed by heat or thorough drying, so cooking the plant will remove the thiaminase.

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.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Asplenium+adiantum-nigrum
http://www.plant-identification.co.uk/skye/aspleniaceae/asplenium-adiantum-nigrum.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asplenium_adiantum-nigrum
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/f/ferns-08.html#lad

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Herbs & Plants

Wall-rue

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Botanical Name :Asplenium ruta-muraria
Family: Aspleniaceae
Genus: Asplenium
Species: A. ruta-muraria
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pteridophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Blechnales

Synonyms:
Asplenium cryptolepis Fernald
Asplenium cryptolepis Fernald var. ohionis Fernald
Asplenium ruta-muraria var. cryptolepis (Fernald) Wherry
Amesium ruta-muraria (L.) Newman

Common Names :wall-rue. In Germany, it is known as Mauerraute or Mauerstreifenfarn

Habitat :Asplenium ruta-muraria grows in Most of Europe, including Britain, Mediterranean, N. and S. Asia to the Himalayas, E. North America.It found on  Old walls and basic rocks in hilly areas.

Description:
Asplenium ruta-muraria is an evergreen Fern growing to 0.1 m (0ft 4in) by 0.2 m (0ft 8in) at a slow rate.
It is in leaf 12-Jan, and the seeds ripen from Jul to October.

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

Rhizome: erect, occasionally branching, scales clathrate, to 3mm, dark brown.
Frond: 15 cm high by 5 cm wide, evergreen, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 1:2 to 1:1.
Stipe: purple-brown at base, fading to green , dark brown, narrowly deltate scales at base grading into multicellular hairs, vascular bundles: 2 C-shaped, back to back, uniting to 1 upwards to an X-shape.
Blade: 2-pinnate at the base, said to be occasionally more divided, always less upwards, oblong-triangular, leathery, dull, commonly with tiny glandular hairs and a few linear scales.
Pinnae: 2 to 5 pair, opposite to alternate, anadromic, stemmed, variable in shape; margins serrate or creanate; veins free, forking.
Sori: linear, along a vein, w-6 on each segment, indusium: translucent, pale tan, fimbriate, hidden by sporangia at maturity, on one side of the sorus, opening toward the middle of the segment, sporangia: brown, maturity: early summer to mid fall, but dispersal can extend.

CLICK & SEE

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and requires well-drained soil.The plant prefers basic (alkaline) soils. and can grow in very alkaline soils.It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland).It requires moist soil.

Cultivation:
Requires a well-drained position and lots of old mortar rubble in the soil. Requires a humid atmosphere and some shade. A good plant for growing on a shady part of an old dry-stone or brick wall, also succeeding in full sun. A very ornamental fern, it is very tough but slow to establish. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer.

Propagation :
Spores – best sown as soon as they are ripe on the surface of a humus-rich sterilized soil. Keep the compost moist, preferably by putting a plastic bag over the pot. Germinates in spring. Spring sown spores germinate in 1 – 3 months at 15°c. Pot on small clumps of plantlets into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle and grow them on in light shade in a cold frame or greenhouse. Keep the plants humid until they are well established. Once the plants are 15cm or more tall, plant them out into their permanent positions in the spring. Division in spring.

Medicinal Uses;
Astringent;  Deobstruent;  Emmenagogue;  Expectorant;  Ophthalmic.

The fronds are astringent, deobstruent, emmenagogue, expectorant and ophthalmic. A distilled water made from the fronds has proved of benefit in the treatment of many eye complaints. The plant is also considered to be useful in the treatment of coughs and ruptures in children. It was at one time used as a herbal remedy for rickets and its tannin content renders it suitable for stopping bleeding from small wounds. The fronds are harvested in late spring and dried for later use

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.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Asplenium+ruta-muraria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asplenium_ruta-muraria
http://hardyfernlibrary.com/ferns/listSpecies.cfm?Auto=147

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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.

click to see the pictures>..….(01)......(1).....(2).…….…(3).….…….

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

Asplenium ceterach

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Botanical Name : Asplenium ceterach
Family: Aspleniaceae
Genus: Asplenium
Species: A. ceterach
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pteridophyta
Class: Pteridopsida
Order: Blechnales

Synonyms : Ceterach officinarum DC.

Common Names :   Rustyback,Rusty Back Fern

Habitat : Asplenium ceterach  is found in Western and Central Europe, including the Mediterranean region. It is associated with fissures in carbonate rocks and also grows on the mortar of stone and brick walls .

Description:
Rhizome: erect, branching, scales clathrate.

Frond: 15 cm high by 2 cm wide, evergreen, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 8:1.

Stipe: green, from base all up the rachis, scaly, vascular bundles: 2 C-shaped, back to back, uniting to 1 upwards to an X-shape.

Blade: pinnatifid, lanceolate, leathery, deep green upper surface, scales dense, light brown, entirely covering the lower surface.

Pinnae: 6 to 12 pair, alternate; margins entire or sometimes irregularly crenate, slightly bending upwards, revealing the scales; veins netted, veins closing near the margins, not visible without removing the scales.

Sori: linear, along veins, indusium: vestigial, replaced by scales, sporangia: dark brown, maturity: late summer, then overwintering to maturity early .
Dimensionality: a rosette, fairly flat on the ground.

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

Medicinal Uses:
In the eighteenth century the leaves were official in some pharmacopoeias, as its botanical name indicates. Infusions from the fern are particularly helpful to sufferers from dysuria (difficulty in passing urine) when oxalic acid is present, and to prevent colic caused by kidney stones.  A syrup made from the fern is sometimes used to treat lung infections, but it is less effective than maidenhair.  The whole plant is widely used in the Mediterranean to treat gravel in the urine and is also used with other mucilaginous plants to treat bronchial 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asplenium_ceterach
http://hardyfernlibrary.com/ferns/listSpecies.cfm?Auto=149
http://www.univ-lehavre.fr/cybernat/pages/asplcete.htm
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_RST.htm?Voucher2=Connect+to+Internet

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Osmunda regalis

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Botanical Name : Osmunda regalis
Family: Osmundaceae
Genus: Osmunda
Section: Euosmunda
Species: O. regalis
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pteridophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida/Pteridopsida (disputed)
Order: Osmundales

Common Name :Royal Fern, Flowering Fern , Old World Royal fern

Habitat :Osmunda regalis is native to Europe, including Britain, from Norway south and east to N. Africa, Asia, N. and S. America. It grows on the swampy areas, fens and damp woodland.

Description:  Osmunda regalis is a deciduous, herbaceous plant which produces separate fertile and sterile fronds. The sterile fronds are spreading, 60-160 cm tall and 30-40 cm broad, bipinnate, with 7-9 pairs of pinnae up to 30 cm long, each pinna with 7-13 pairs of pinnules 2.5-6.5 cm long and 1-2 cm broad. The fertile fronds are erect and shorter, 20-50 cm tall, usually with 2-3 pairs of sterile pinnae at the base, and 7-14 pairs of fertile pinnae above bearing the densely-clustered sporangia.

The “Royal” name derives from its being one of the largest and most imposing European ferns. In many areas, it has become rare as a result of wetland drainage for agriculture.

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES...

Rhizome: erect, massive, forming a trunk, occasionally branching, hairs and old stipe bases woven together with black, fibrous roots.
Frond: 120 cm high by 25 cm wide, though sometimes much taller, deciduous, dimorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 1:1.

Stipe: stipules (flared leaf base), unique to the family/genus, hairy when young, soon glabrous, vascular bundles: 1 in a U-shape where the top of the arms continue to curl.

Blade: 2-pinnate, rachis grooved, somewhat waxy, shedding water, reddish to light brown hairs, soon falling.
Pinnae: 5 to 9 pair, catadromous, often jointed at the rachis, rotated to the horizontal; on fertile fronds usually the two to four lowest pair are sterile; pinnules oblong, to 8 cm, 8-12 pairs plus a terminal pinnule; margins almost entire, the tip of the pinnules serrate; veins free, forked.

Sori: none, indusium: absent, sporangia: large, globose, tan or black when mature, spores green, maturity: early to midsummer.

Dimensionality: horizontal pinnae.

Varities:
There are three to four varieties as traditionally construed:

*Osmunda regalis var. regalis. Europe, Africa, southwest Asia. Sterile fronds to 160 cm tall.

*Osmunda regalis var. panigrahiana R.D.Dixit. Southern Asia (India).

*Osmunda regalis var. brasiliensis (Hook. & Grev.) Pic. Serm. Tropical regions of Central and South America; treated as a synonym of var. spectabilis by some authors.

*Osmunda regalis var. spectabilis (Willdenow) A.Gray. Eastern North America. Sterile fronds to 100 cm tall.

Cultivation: An easily grown plant, it prefers a soil of swamp mud and loamy or fibrous peat, sand and loam. Succeeds in most moist soils, preferring acid conditions. Requires a constant supply of water, doing well by ponds, streams etc[1]. Plants thrive in full sun so long as there is no shortage of moisture in the soil and also in shady situations beneath shrubs etc. Plants are hardy to at least -20°c, they are evergreen in warm winter areas but deciduous elsewhere. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer. Transplants well, even when quite large. Some named forms have been selected for their ornamental value. Special Features:Attractive foliage, North American native, Naturalizing, Wetlands plant, There are no flowers or blooms.
Propagation: Spores – they very quickly lose their viability (within 3 days) and are best sown as soon as they are ripe on the surface of a humus-rich sterilized soil in a lightly shaded place in a greenhouse. Keep the compost moist, preferably by putting a plastic bag over the pot. Plants develop very rapidly, pot on small clumps of plantlets as soon as they are large enough to handle and keep humid until they are well established. Do not plant outside until the ferns are at least 2 years old. Cultivars usually come true to type[200]. Division of the rootstock in the dormant season. This is a very strenuous exercise due to the mass of wiry roots

Meditional Uses:
The mucilaginous roots, often boiled in water to produce royal fern jelly, once given to invalids as a nutritious, easily digested food, and also used to treat dysentery, coughs and pulmonary disorders.  The root is useful in the treatment of jaundice and removing obstructions of the viscera.  The fronds are used to make compresses for external application to wounds and rheumatic joints – for which purposes they are fairly effective. An infusion of the fronds, combined with wild ginger roots (Asarum species) has been used in the treatment of children with convulsions caused by intestinal worms.

Other Uses:

Landscape Uses:Border, Container, Ground cover, Rock garden, Specimen, Woodland garden.
UsesThe roots, along with those of other species of Osmunda, are used for the production of osmunda fibre, used as a growing medium for cultivated orchids and other epiphytic plants.

According to Slavic mythology, the sporangia, called “Perun’s flowers“, have assorted magical powers, such as giving their holders the ability to defeat demons, fulfill wishes, unlock secrets, and understand the language of trees. However, collecting the sporangia is a difficult and frightening process. In earlier traditions, they must be collected on Kupala night; later, after the arrival of Christianity, the date is changed to Easter eve. Either way, the person wanting to collect Perun’s flowers must stand within a circle drawn around the plant and withstand the taunting or threats of demons.

Seasoned Royal Fern is also used in the dish Namul in Korean royal court cuisine.

The young shoots of the fern are, along with the similar shoots of many other fern species, known in some places as fiddleheads, and eaten as food, thought to have an asparagus-like taste.

Known Hazards:  Although  it is  found that there is no reports of toxicity for this species, a number of ferns contain carcinogens so some caution is advisable. Many ferns also contain thiaminase, an enzyme that robs the body of its vitamin B complex. In small quantities this enzyme will do no harm to people eating an adequate diet that is rich in vitamin B, though large quantities can cause severe health problems. The enzyme is destroyed by heat or thorough drying, so cooking the plant will remove the thiaminase.

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/Osmunda_regalis
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_RST.htm?Voucher2=Connect+to+Internet
http://hardyfernlibrary.com/ferns/listspecies.cfm?auto=111

http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Osmunda+regalis

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