| Botany:
· A terrestial or epiphytic fern
· Rhizome: densely clothed with brownish scales; with fleshy,
egg-shaped tubers.
· Stipe: tufted and glossy or more usually clothed with slender
soft, brown paleae, 2.5 to 25 cm long, not jointed to rootstock. (Note:
a jointed rootstock, in contrast, breaks off very easily from its point
of attachment, leaving a more or less rounded, even-edged depression.)
· Fronds: simply pinnate, smooth, linear lanceolate, 20 to 60
cm long, 2.5 to 5 cm wide.
· Pinnae: numerous, often imbrocated at the widened bases, 8
mm wide, the apex more or less bluntish, the base heart-shaped, jointed
to rachis, base rounded on the lower side and auricled on the upper
side, toothed to subentire.
· Sori: large, round, submedial, nearer the edge than the midrib.
· Indusium: usually reniform, broad, opening towards the apices
of the pinnae.
(Note: Resembles the common Boston Fern
(Nephrolepsis exaltata L.), an ornamental used extensively in flower
wreath-making, but the N. cordifolia frond is narrower.)
Distribution
A common terrestial fern used locally
in gardens as a hedge plant. Also grows wild in forests and wastelands.
From sea-level to above 7000 feet altitudes.
Parts utilized
· Tubers.
· Collect the fleshy underground tubers, remove the epidermal
scales, wash, boil, and sun-dry.
Properties and constituents
Faintly sweet, mildly tart.
Cooling, stomachic, febrifuge, antitussive, tonic.
Considered antibacterial, antitussive, styptic, antifungal.
Uses
Folkloric
· Decoction of fresh fronds
for fever due to cold, chronic coughing, enteritis-diarrhea, infantile
convulsions.
• In India, herb
is used for cough and skin diseases.
• Rhizome used as antibacterial; for coughs, rheumatism, chest congestion, anorexia.
• Pinnae used for coughs, wounds and treatment of jaundice. source
Studies
• Diuretic:
Study showed Nephrolepis cordifolia rhizome juice to be active in the
renal system of rats. Results indicated it to be an effective hypernatremic,
hyperchloremic hyperkalemic diuretic.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
Common garden hedge plant.
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