PROPERTIES AND USES. 
9. PROPERTIES AND USES OF FERNS, 
Although Ferns rank as one of the few great families 
of the Vegetable Kingdom that contain upwards of 2,000 
species, and, as already shown, are widely distributed over 
the earth, they nevertheless possess but few economic pro- 
 perties useful to man, either as food, medicine, or in the 
. arts. The following are the names of the principal, and 
the uses to which they have been applied. 
Phlebodium aureum. 
The fleshy caudex is purgative, and it is one of the 
Ferns called Calahula. 
Phymatodes vulgaris. 
The fronds are slightly fragrant, and are used by the 
. South Sea Islanders for perfuming cocoa-nut oil P. pus- 
.. tulata is used by the New Zealanders to scent their oil and 
food. ` 
Polypodium vulgare. 
. By the ancients, and our old doctors and herbalists, 
many medical virtues were ascribed to the common Poly- 
pody. In Greece, and other parts of Europe, it is used 
as a cure for ringworm; and in this country an infusion a 
of the fresh root is still regarded as a mild laxative. In 
‘some places a decoction of the dried fronds is still used as ` ` 
a remedy for colds and whooping cough. Its fronds yield ` ` 
‘carbonate of potass. 
Campyloneuron Phyllitidis, 
P "This is one of the Ferns termed in South America ne 
Calahula, which with the natives is a celebrated medicine - 
for ME = especially for = gout, and | 
