74 
CHAPTEE VII. 
' 
THE USES OF FERNS. 
It takes but few words to convince a man of taste of the 
many claims which the fern-family possess to beauty, 
but their utilitarian qualities are less easily demonstrated. 
Yet even in this respect the ferns are entitled to some 
notice, for they do fulfil several useful offices of some 
importance both to man and animals. 
M. Duchesne says of the Acrostichum alcicorne , — 
“Avec le sommet de la racine sechee, et reduite en 
poudre, on forme un pain grossier, a la Nouvelle-Ze- 
lande •” and other authors bear witness to the import- 
ance once attached in that country to the roots of Pteris 
esculenta , as an article of food ; old plants were preferred 
for this purpose, laid to dry for a year, and then mace- 
rated, the woody matter being rejected. But in these 
days of extensive colonization and universal commerce, 
the New Zealanders find more palatable and nourishing 
food easy to obtain, so they only chew fern-root as a 
superfluity. 
Another Acrostichum is much valued in some countries 
for thatching houses, while in Arabia, according to 
Duchesne, a poultice of the leaves is applied successfully 
to burns. The same author recounts that a golden- 
