20 MOST COMMON FERNS

MEDICINAL USE

- Maidenhair fern- Bronchitis, coughs, whooping coughs, heavy

menstruation with cramps.

Maidenhair fern contains chemicals that might help reduce swelling

(inflammation).

- Lady fern- lung and breathing problems, cough, and digestive

tract illnesses.

- Royal fern- treatment of jaundice and removing obstructions of

the viscera

used for menstrual problems

- Cinnamon Fern - A decoction of the root was reportedly rubbed

into affected joints to treat rheumatism.

used for women’s troubles, caked breasts, and malaise.

- Sword fern - used for cough and skin diseases.

The leaves have been used to cure sore throat.

- Ostrich Fern- used as decoction of sterile leaf stalk base for the
expulsion of afterbirth and for back pain.

Ostrich fern might act like a laxative. Otherwise, there isn't enough
information to know how it might work. Ostrich fern is sometimes
applied directly to the skin for wounds and boils.

- Bird's-nest fern- Infusion of the fronds is used to ease labour pains.

The leaves can also be pounded in water and used as a lotion to treat
fever. Two young fronds can be eaten when they are still coiled as a
contraceptive, and tea made from fronds can be used for general
weakness.
The fern is commercially valuable and exploited as an ornamental.

- Holly Fern- The rhizome is used as an anthelmintic, chiefly for

the expulsion of tapeworm

- Staghorn fern- to treat fever, irregular menstrual cycle and bile

problems 

used in ethnomedical treatment of ulcer, miscarriages in women,

oedema, cough and hypertension treatment.

- Pteridium aquilinum- used for tuberculosis, infections, and chest

pain.

Bracken ash or Pteridium aquilinum was particularly useful for making

clear colourless glass.

- Christmas fern- treat stomachache, pneumonia, toothache, and

chills. 

Christmas fern provides winter interest in woodland, shade, or native

plant gardens, along walls, or on slope.
- Japanese painted fern- Ferns are most used in mass plantings as a
bedding or border as “groundcover”, or an understory plant.

- Sensitive fern-  treating arthritis and various infections. The top

of the plant was used as a poultice for deep cuts. A decoction was
used for treating venereal diseases.

A decoction of the plant has been used as a hair wash to help prevent
baldness

- Northern maidenhair fern- Indigenous peoples made a tea from

the leaves to treat respiratory conditions such as coughing and
consumption. 

- Phlebodium aureum-The plant historically has been used by the

indigenous people of Honduras for malignant tumors,
rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis

- Asparagus fern- Asparagus was used as a medicinal herb against

heart problems, dizziness and bee stings, as well as a laxative

primarily used as a filler plant in containers of mixed flowers growing

during the summer.

- Autumn fern- Interrupted Fern- used for weak blood and

gonorrhea

Landscape Uses Autumn fern is most at home in shaded woodland

gardens where it is allowed to make a solid mass

- Wood ferns- Used for stomach ache, Fronds used to clean meat and
to cover meat to keep off flies.
- Man fern-is used to treat nosebleeds, heavy menstrual bleeding,
wounds, and tumors. 

veterinarians use male fern to treat worms in animals

- Eastern hay scented fern- used for chills and lung hemorrhages. 

- Western sword fern- Sometimes the fronds would be used for

bedding or a floor covering.

- Pteris cretica- treat diarrhea and dysentery Licorice fern - used

as a remedy against colds, coughs, and sore throats

They have been used to remove arsenic from residential soils