Medicinal Ferns and Fern Allies: Dryopteris filix-mas, Male Fern
Medicinal Ferns and Fern Allies: Dryopteris filix-mas, Male Fern
Obviously, this one is out of order alphabetically. But, the Male Fern is so closely associated with the Female Fern that I thought it appropriate to group them together. Many herbalists, such as Culpepper and Gerard, listed them together. I believe it may be helpful to the reader if they are presented in like manner.
Dioscorides tells us of the Male Fern – he seems to have referred to the same plant as both dryopteris and pteris:
Dryopteris grows on the mossy parts of old oaks like fern, but there are fewer incisions. It has rough roots enfolded by plaiting — astringent to the taste, inclining to sweetness. This is applied (pounded into small pieces with its roots) to make hair fall off. You must wipe away the first application after it has moistened the skin, and lay on fresh. It is also called pterion, or nymphaea pteris.
Pteris has leaves without stalks, flowers or seed out of one stem, the height of about a foot, cut-in and spread out wide like a wing, with a somewhat strong smell. It has a root that lies shallow, black, somewhat long, with many shoots, somewhat astringent to the taste. It grows in rocky hilly places. Four teaspoonfuls of the root of this is taken with honey and water to draw out broadworms. It works better if one gives it with forty grains of scammony or black hellebore. It is necessary for those who take it to eat garlic first. For the splenetic it is given to restore them to their former state. A decoction of the root (taken as a drink with goose grease and applied as well) is good for those hurt with a fistula [ulcer]. The proof is this: where there is much seed and much fern enclosing it, there the fern vanishes. It is also called blechnon, polyrrhizon, pterion, pterineon, dasyclonon, or anasphoron; the Magi call it surculum Mercurii; the Romans, filix fanaria, some, laculla, or filix, and the Egyptians call it the blood of an ass.
Gerard wrote of the Male Fern:
The Male Fern bringeth forth presently from the root broad leaves and rough, somewhat hard, easy to be broken, of a light green colour, and strong smell, more than a cubit long, spread abroad like wings, compounded as it were of a great number st upon a middle rib, every one whereof is like a feather, nicked in the edges, and on the backside are sprinkled as it were with a very fine earthy-coloured dust or spots, which many rashly have taken for seed: the root consisteth of a number of tufts or threads, and is thick and black, and is without stalk and seed, and altogether barren.
I have observed four sorts of Fern, by most writers esteemed to be the Male Fern of Dioscordes: by Anguillara, Gesner, Cæsalpinus, and Clusius, accounted to be the female, and so indeed do I think them to be, though I call them the male, with the multitude. If you look on these Ferns according to their several growths and ages, you may make many more sorts of them than I have done; which I am afraid hath been the occasion of describing more sorts than indeed there are in nature. These descriptions I made by them when they were in their perfect growths.
The roots of the Male Fern being taken to the weight of half an ounce, driveth forth long flat worms out of the belly, as Dioscorides writeth, being drunk in Mead or honeyed water; and more effectually, if it be given with two scruples or two third parts of a dram of Scammony, or of Black Hellebore: they that will use it, saith he, must first eat Garlick. After the same manner, as Galen addeth, it killeth the child in the mother's womb. The root hereof is reported to be good for them that have ill spleens: and being stamped with swine's grease and applied, it is a remedy against the pricking of the reed: for proof hereof, Dioscorides saith the Fern dieth if the Reed be planted about it; and contrariwise, that the Reed shall if it be compassed with Fern: which is vain to think, that it happeneth by any antipathy or natural hatred, and not by reason this Fern prospereth not in moist places, nor the Reed in dry. The root of the Male Fern sodden in wine is good against the hardness and stopping of the milt: and being boiled in water, stayeth the lask in young children, if they be set over the decoction thereof to ease their bodies by a close stool.
Mrs. Grieve tells us:
The common Male Fern, often known as Dryopteris Filix-mas (Linn.), and assigned by other botanists to the genera Lastrea, Nephrodium and Polypodium, is one of the commonest and hardiest of British Ferns and, after the Bracken, the species most frequently met with, growing luxuriantly in woods and shady situations, and along moist banks and hedgerows. In sheltered spots it will sometimes remain green all the winter.
This Fern grows in all parts of Europe, temperate Asia, North India, North and South Africa, the temperate parts of the United States and the Andes of South America. It is very variable, some of its forms in this country markedly differing and described under the names of sub-species, the chief being affine, Borreri, pumilum, abbreviatum, and elongatum.
Parts Used Medicinally---An oil is extracted from the rhizome of this Fern, which, as far back as the times of Theophrastus and Dioscorides, was known as a valuable vermifuge, and its use has in modern times been widely revived.
The famous remedy of Madame Nouffer, for expelling tapeworms, contained this plant as its basis. Comparatively little Male Fern has so far been collected in this country, Germany until the War having supplied nearly all our requirements. It may be collected in late autumn, winter or early spring, from the time the fronds die down, till February, late autumn being considered the best time. Only old rhizomes should be taken.
The rhizome varies in length and thickness according to its age. For medicinal purposes it should be from 3 to 6 inches or more long and from 1 1/2 to 2 inches or more broad. When removed from the 30 ground, it is cylindrical and covered with the closely arranged, overlapping remains of the leafstalks of the decayed fronds. These stalks are from I to 2 inches long, somewhat curved, angular, brown=coloured, and surrounded at the base with thin, silky scales, of a light brown colour. From between these remains of the leaf stalks, the black, wiry, branched roots may be seen. Internally in the fresh state, the rhizome is fleshy and of a light yellowish-green colour. It has very little odour, but a sweetish, astringent and subsequently nauseous and bitter taste.
Before drying, it is divested of its scales, roots and all dead portions, leaving the lower swollen portion attached to the rhizome, and is carefully cleansed from adhering soil. It is then sliced in half longitudinally. For pharmaceutical use, it is reduced to a coarse powder and at once exhausted with ether. Extract obtained in this way is more efficacious than that which has been obtained from rhizome that has been kept for some time. It should never be more than a year old.
There is also a market for Male Fern Fingers which are the bases of the fronds, collected in late summer, scraped when fresh (not peeled), cut up into pieces 2 to 3 inches long and then dried, when they present a wrinkled appearance externally and internally and should have the colour of pistachio nuts. ---
Substitutes---English oil of Male Fern has always proved more reliable than that imported from the Continent, which is often extracted from an admixture of other species. The rhizomes of Asplenium Filix-foemina (Bernh.), Aspidium Oreopteris (Sw.), and A. spinulosum (Sw.), resemble those of the Male Fern and have often been found mixed with it when imported. They are best distinguished by examining the transverse section of their leaf bases with a magnifying lens: in Filix-mas, the section exhibits eight wood bundles, forming an irregular circle, whilst in the three other ferns named only two are observed. The presence of secreting cells in the hard tissue, the number of bundles at the base of the leaf-stalk, and the absence of glandular hairs from the margin of the scales, readily distinguish Male Fern from the other species. The margin of the scales borne by the leaf-stalk has in the Male Fern merely hair-like projections, whereas in A. spinulosum, the hairs are glandular. Felixfoemina has no glandular hairs, and has only two large bundles in the base of the leafstalk in distinction to the eight of Filix-mas. The United States Pharmacopoeia includes the rhizome of a Canadian species, A. marginale, which in transverse section shows only six wood bundles.
This fern appears to have some qualities in common with the Bracken. The ashes of both have been used in soap and glassmaking, and the young curled fronds have been boiled and eaten like Asparagus. In times of great scarcity the Norwegians (over a century ago) used the fronds to mix with bread and also made them into beer. The leaves, cut green and dried, make an excellent bitter, and when infused in hot water make good fodder for sheep and goats. The Scottish roots of Male Fern (according to an account published in the Chemist and Druggist of February 26, 1921) yield an oleoresin which contains 30 per cent of filicin, whereas the British Pharmacopoeia only requires 20 per cent.
---Constituents---By extraction with ether, Male Fern yields a dark green, oily liquid extract, Oil of Male Fern, containing the more important constituents of the drug. The chief constituents are about 5 per cent of Filmaron - an amorphous acid, and from 5 to 8 per cent of Filicic acid, which is also amorphous and tends to degenerate into its inactive crystalline anhydride, Filicin. The Filicic acid is regarded as the chief, though not the only active principle. Tannin, resin, colouring matter and sugar are also present in the rhizome. The drug has a disagreeable, bitter taste and an unpleasant odour ---
Medicinal Action and Uses---The liquid extract is one of the best anthelmintics against tapeworm, which it kills and expels. It is usual to administer this worm medicine last thing at night, after several hours of fasting, and to give a purgative, such as castor oil, first thing in the morning. A single sufficient dose will often cure at once. The powder, or the fluid extract, may be taken, but the ethereal extract, or oleoresin, if given in pill form, is the more pleasant way of taking it.
The drug is much employed for similar purposes by veterinary practitioners. In the powdered form, the dose varies from 60 to 180 grains, taken in honey or syrup, or infused in half a teacupful of boiling water. The dose often given is too small, and failure is then due to the smallness of the dose. In too large doses, however, it is an irritant poison, causing muscular weakness and coma, and has been proved particularly injurious to the eyesight, even causing blindness. The older herbalists considered that 'the roots, bruised and boiled in oil or lard, made a good ointment for healing wounds, and that the powdered roots cured rickets in children.'
---Preparations and Dosages---Powdered root, 1 to 4 drachms. Fluid extract, 1 to 4 drachms. Oleoresin, 5 to 20 drops. Ethereal extract, B.P., 45 to 90 drops.
John K’eogh wrote of the Irish tradition:
The roots, which are the only parts used in medicine, open obstructions of the liver and spleen and are good at curing rickets in children.
French herbalist, Maurice Messegue used Male Fern in combination with Burdock, Roman Chamomile, Couch Grass, Cabbage leaves, Autumn Crocus, Common Broom, Lavender and Sage in hand and foot baths to treat gout. Messegue’s herbal medicine was very unique as he only used herbs in baths and soaks – nothing internal.
Plants for a Future states:
The male fern is one of the most popular and effective treatments for tape worms. The root stalks are anodyne, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, astringent, febrifuge, vermifuge and vulnerary. The root contains an oleoresin that paralyses tapeworms and other internal parasites and has been used as a worm expellent. The active ingredient in this oleo-resin is "filicin", roots of this species contain about 1.5 - 2.5% filicin. It is one of the most effective treatments known for tapeworms - its use should be immediately followed by a non-oily purgative such as magnesium sulphate, Convolvulus scammonia or Helleborus niger in order to expel the worms from the body. An oily purge, such as caster oil, increases the absorption of the fern root and can be dangerous. The root is also taken internally in the treatment of internal haemorrhage, uterine bleeding, mumps and feverish illnesses. The root is harvested in the autumn and can be dried for later use. This remedy should be used with caution and only under the supervision of a qualified practitioner. The root is toxic and the dosage is critical. Pregnant women and people with heart complaints should not be prescribed this plant. See also notes above on toxicity. Externally, the root is used as a poultice in the treatment of abscesses, boils, carbuncles and sores.
Edible parts of Male Fern: Young fronds - cooked. A flavour resembling asparagus, broccoli and artichokes. Some caution is advised, see the notes on toxicity. The rhizomes can be eaten raw or cooked. They were eaten raw as part of a regime for losing weight. Although we have found no reports for this species, a number of ferns contain carcinogens so some caution is advisable. The fresh plant contains 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. However, there have been reports for other species of ferns suggesting that even cooked fronds can have a long term harmful effect. Some caution is therefore advised.
The Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants tells us: An oleoresin extracted from the roots has been used as a worm expellent. It is toxic to tapeworms. Warning: Toxic poison and skin irritant.
The Physicians’ Desk Reference for Herbal Medicine states:
Effects: Male Fern has an anthelmintic effect and is strongly cytotoxic against band worms and liver flukes, although roundworm and oxyuris are resistant. It is also cell toxic, virostatic, and antiviral. The pharmacological effect is largely due to flavaspidic acid with filic acids being the main active principle.
Unproven Uses: Preparations of Male Fern are used externally for rheumatism, sciatica, muscle pain, neuralgia, earache and toothache, for festering and poorly healing wounds, burns, hemorrhoids, for teething infants and sleep disorders, as well as internally for tapeworms and flukes. Homeopathic Uses: Dryopteris felix-mas is used for weak sight and damage to the optic nerve.
Contraindications: The drug should not be administered in the presence of anemia, cardiac, liver or kidney disease, or diabetes…. The drug should not be used during pregnancy.
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