beating it on a stone; and seventy per cent, of flour has been 
obtained from good fern-root. But the present generation of 
natives only use fern-root as a relish, although they have still 
fern-root feasts. In taste it resembles ship-biscuits. The pio¬ 
neers of civilization found a Hindoo domesticated among the 
New Zealanders who preferred fern-root to rice; and the native 
stolen away from the Bay of Islands byDe Surville (D’Urville?) 
wept on his death-bed for the want of fern-root.” 
Now this Pteris esculent a, or edible Fern-root , is a mere variety 
of our common Brake ( Pteris aquilina , L.), and is recorded 
under that name in Dr. Hooker’s ‘ Flora of New Zealand ’ (vol. ii. 
p. 25); and an interesting notice of our own “ Pteris aquilina as 
an esculent vegetable ” will be found in the ninth volume of the 
£ Kew Garden Miscellany/ by Dr. Benjamin Clark. The re¬ 
sults, however, of that gentleman’s experiments were not en¬ 
couraging. When completely blanched, the root was found an 
agreeable vegetable, and considered “preferable to garden spi¬ 
nach, and also to have a more beneficial effect on the digestive 
organs.” Garden spinach, however, is a poor substitute for 
potatoes and corn-bread; and Mr. Backhouse,.speaking of the 
same fern-root as eaten in Tasmania, says: “ It is to be observed 
that persons who have been reduced to the use of it in long ex¬ 
cursions through the bush, have become very weak, though it 
has prolonged life.”* 
Other species of Fern are used as food; the Nephrodium escu- 
lentum (?) in Nepal, according to Dr. Buchanan Hamilton, and in 
other countries Diplazium esculentum , Cyatliea medullar is, Glei - 
cltenia Hermanni, etc. Ferns contain a thick, astringent muci¬ 
lage, and a little aroma, on which account many are considered 
pectoral and lenitive: many are bitter and astringent. The 
rhizomes or caudices (root-stocks) contain starch, saccharine 
matter, and gum, usually tannic and gallic acids, with more or less 
bitter matter, and sometimes both fixed and volatile oils, resin. 
Hence they are considered to possess astringent and tonic pro¬ 
perties, and to act as vermifuges, particularly the rhizome of 
our common Male Shield-Fern, Nephrodium Filial-Mas. Syrup 
of Capillaire is extracted from Adiantum Capillus-Veneris and 
other Ferns. But in general it must be acknowledged the phar¬ 
maceutical properties of Ferns are more imaginary than real. 
Some of the Exotic Ferns however yield an elastic, beautiful, 
golden-silky substance, long known and used in Madeira, the 
Canaries, and Azores, for stuffing cushions, mattresses, etc. This 
material is found in great abundance upon the rhizomes and 
* A better use is made of the common Brake by the English peasantry, who 
procure an alkali from the burnt ashes, which they mix with water and form them 
into balls. These balls are afterwards made hot in the fire, and then used to 
make lye for scouring linen.— Withering . 
