 Botany
Lagolo is a coarse fern growing to a height of 2 meters. Rootstocks are stout, woody and scaly. Stipes are clustered, stout and glabrous, 30 to 50 cm long. Fronds are leathery, pinnate, 50 to 200 cm long. Leaflets are 20 to 50 cm long, 4 to 6 cm wide. Terminal part of the frond has fertile pinnae covered with brownish sporangia. Fertile upper pinnae are smaller than the lower sterile ones.
Distribution
- Abundant in open mud flats, in mangove swamps, and along tidal streams.
- Occasionally planted as an ornamental.
- Widely distributed in the tropics of both hemispheres.
Parts
utilized
Leaves, roots, rhizomes.
Constituents
• Phytochemical studies have yielded beta-sitosterol, alkaloid, flavonoids, phenolics, catechins, saponins, tannins.
 Properties
Considered emollient, vulnerary, febrifuge, purgative.
Uses
Folkloric
• Rhizomes are used for the healing of stubborn ulcers.
• Leaves used topically as emollient.
• In Malaya and Borneo, powdered or grated rhizomes applied as paste to wounds and boils.
• Fronds and roots are applied to syphilitic ulcers.
• In Fiji, used for sore throat, chest pains and elephantiasis, for constipation and as purgative; also, as febrifuge.
• In Bangladesh, leaves used for cloudy urination in women.
Studies
• Cytotoxic:
Study of 16 listed Bangladeshi plants, screened against human gastric, colon, and breast cancer cell lines, Acrostichum aureus showed the most potent selective cytotoxicity.
Availability
Wild-crafted. |
