European Ferns. 
xxviii 
The succulent fronds of the curious little Water Fern ( Ceratopteris thalictroides ) are boiled 
and eaten as a vegetable by the poorer classes in the Indian Archipelago. This species, 
which is figured on the preceding page, is remarkable on account of its aquatic habit, in 
which respect it is quite exceptional among ferns. It is an annual species, found in wet 
places, or floating upon shallow, slowly-moving waters in the tropics of both hemispheres. It 
has much divided, succulent, membranous fronds, which are often proliferous ; the sterile ones 
are leafy and less divided, with reticulated veins, the fertile fronds being taller and divided 
into very narrow segments. It has been grown in the Victoria tanks at Kew. Small as it is, 
this little fern has had at least as many names as a Spanish grandee, having been described 
by no less than twelve authors under as many generic and specific names. 
The young shoots of a handsome tree-fern, Augiopteris evecta , are eaten in the Society 
Islands ; the large rhizome is in great part composed of a mucilaginous matter, from which, 
when dried, a kind of flour is prepared. In the same islands the young fronds of HelminthostacJiys 
zeylanica are prepared and eaten in the same way as asparagus. The young fronds of 
Alsophila lunulata , the “ Balabala ” of the Fiji Islands, are eaten in times of scarcity ; and the 
soft scales covering the stipes of the fronds are used for stuffing pillows and cushions by the 
white settlers in preference to feathers, because they do not become so heated, and are thus 
a real luxury in a sultry tropical night. In New South Wales the thick rhizome of Blcclinum 
cartilagineum is much eaten by the natives ; it is first roasted, and then beaten so as to break 
away the woody fibre ; it is said to taste like a waxy potato. 
The syrup “ capillaire,” which is a popular French pectoral remedy, is prepared from the 
Maidenhair ( Adiantum capilliis-veneris ) ; the North American Adiantum pedatum possesses similar 
properties, which are less conspicuously displayed in the Wall Rue ( Asplenium Ruta-murarid) 
and Black Maidenhair {Asplenium Adiantum-nigruvi). To these we shall refer more 
particularly when we come to speak of the genus Adiantum. In Peru the rhizomes of two 
Polypodies ( Polypodium Calaguala and Poly podium crassifolium), with those of Acrosticlmm 
Huascaro, are employed under the name of Calaguala as diaphoretics and astringents : febri- 
fugal and anti-rheumatic virtues are also ascribed to them. The drug has been brought to 
Europe, although but rarely ; and there is some doubt as to whether the ferns just mentioned have 
really produced the specimens imported under the name Calaguala. The fronds of Aspidium 
fragrans, which have a pleasant scent resembling that of raspberries, are much esteemed in 
Northern Asia as an anti-scorbutic, and in Mongolia are used as a substitute for tea. The 
hairs of a species of Dicksonia ( Cibotium ) — nearly allied to, and perhaps identical with, the 
Dicksonia Barometz which we have considered at some length when treating of the genus — 
have been employed as a styptic, and even find a place in the German Pharmacopoeia ; but 
their action seems to be purely mechanical, although some practitioners have tried the effect 
of an aqueous decoction of them in cases of internal haemorrhage, and in some instances favourable 
reports have been issued. The drug is exposed for sale in the markets of Java under the name of 
Pcnghawar-Djambi, and is occasionally met with at the public drug sales in London. It is 
imported in the form of straight pieces of the lower part of the stem of the fern, about a 
foot in length and an inch in width ; their most striking feature being the abundance of the 
long sparkling golden hairs with which they are thickly covered. It is chiefly sent to Java from 
Sumatra, but also from China, Borneo, and the Philippine Islands. This fern is not a native of 
Java, but the inner portion of the stems of an indigenous fern, Balantinm chrysotrichum , are 
employed as a substitute for the true Pcnghawar-Djambi, under the name of Paku-Kidang. This 
substitution is said to have been first made by the Dutch in 1837, and it is this which has been 
