Botany
Lygodium flexuosum is a climbing or scrambling fern. The dwarfed branches are up to 3 millimeters long. Pinnae are pinnate, 15 to 25 centimeters long, and sometimes bipinnate in the lower part. Pinnules are stalked, finely serrate, otherwise entire lanceolate or more commonly lobed on both sides at the base, 4 to 10 centimeters long; the fertile pinnae are shorter than the sterile one. Spikes are 2 to 10 millimeters long. Spores are verruculose.

Distribution
- Common and widely distributed, especially in open places in the Philippines.
- Also found throughout the tropics of the Old World.

Constituents
- Plant yields antheridiogens, O-P-coumaryldryocrassol, tectoquinone, kaempferol, kaemferol-3-beta-D-glucosdie, beta-sitosterol and stigmasterol as main constituents. Main constituent is lygodinolide, used mainly for wound healing.
- Roots yield flavonoids, quercetin, and pentahydroxyflavone-3-O-rutinoside.
- Rich source of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, and coumarin.
- Study yielded saponins (27.6%), bitter principles, sterols, and triterpene alcohols.
- Phytochemical screening of aqueous and methanol crude leaf extracts yielded alkaloids, phenols, and saponins. Gallic tannins, steroids, and flavonoids were present in the methanol extract. (see study below) (19)

Properties
- Considered antioxidant, anti-implantation, anti-ovulatory.
- Studies have shown hepatoprotective, antiproliferative, antiangiogenic, antioxidant, antifertility, antibacterial, wound healing, antihistaminic, mast cell stabilizing properties.

Parts utilized
Whole plant, roots, leaves.

Uses
Edibility
- Young fronds eaten as vegetable.
- In Nepal, during times of scarcity, Chitwan people use it as vegetable sustenance.
Folkloric
- Roots and leaves used externally for ringworm and other skin ailments.
- Elsewhere, plant is used in treatment of blenorrhagia.
- In Indian traditional medicine, used for jaundice and liver disorders. Also used for dysmenorrhea, wound healing, and eczema.
- Kadar tribes of the Western Ghats of India use a leaf paste to cure jaundice.
- The Maharashtra tribe in India smoke bidi made of roots for rheumatism and arthritis; also, fresh roots boiled with mustard oil used for massage. Bidi also smoked for bleeding gums, bad breath, sprains, scabies, rheumatism, as antifertility and abortifacient, for jaundice and wound healing.
- In India, whole plant used for bloody dysentery. Also used as expectorant and for wounds and sprains.
- In Malaysia, used externally for ringworm.
- In Vietnam, applied to wounds after mashing; also used as diuretic.
- In Nepal, plant ash used for herpes.
- In Bangladesh, paste of roots mixed with Asparagus racemosus, taken orally to treat physical weakness. (16)
Others
• Animals: Plant fed to domestic animals to treat foot and mouth diseases.
• Basketry / Ties: Wiry rachises are used for plaiting and weaving to make hats, baskets, boxes, and bags. Also used to tie rice sheaths in the fields.