| Botany
Bayabang is a terrestial or epiphytic fern with densely clothed rhizomes with brownish scales and fleshy,
egg-shaped tubers. Stipe are tufted and glossy or more usually clothed with slender
soft, brown paleae, 2.5 to 25 cm long, not jointed to rootstock. (Note:
a jointed rootstock, in contrast, breaks off very easily from its point
of attachment, leaving a more or less rounded, even-edged depression.) Fronds are simply pinnate, smooth, linear lanceolate, 20 to 60
cm long, 2.5 to 5 cm wide. Pinnae are numerous, often imbrocated at the widened bases, 8
mm wide, the apex more or less bluntish, the base heart-shaped, jointed
to rachis, base rounded on the lower side and auricled on the upper
side, toothed to subentire. Sori are large, round, submedial, nearer the edge than the midrib. Indusium is usually reniform, broad, opening towards the apices
of the pinnae.
(Note: Resembles the common Boston Fern
(Nephrolepsis exaltata L.), an ornamental used extensively in flower
wreath-making, but the N. cordifolia frond is narrower.)
Distribution
A common terrestial fern used locally
in gardens as a hedge plant.
Also grows wild in forests and wastelands.
From sea-level to above 7000 feet altitudes.
Parts utilized
· Tubers, rhizomes, fronds.
· Collect the fleshy underground tubers, remove the epidermal
scales, wash, boil, and sun-dry.
Properties
Faintly sweet, mildly tart.
Cooling, stomachic, febrifuge, antitussive, tonic.
Considered antibacterial, antitussive, styptic, antifungal.
Uses
Folkloric
In Nepal, fresh and roasted tubers are consumed by locals. Tubers are eaten to quench thirst.
Folkloric
· Decoction of fresh fronds
for fever due to cold, chronic coughing, enteritis-diarrhea, infantile
convulsions.
• In India, herb
is used for cough and skin diseases.
• Rhizome used as antibacterial; for coughs, rheumatism, chest congestion, anorexia.
• Pinnae used for coughs, wounds and treatment of jaundice.
• In Nepal , juice of root tubers taken for fever, indigestion, headache, cough, cold and hematuria. Whole plant used for kidney, liver and skin disorders.
Studies
• Diuretic:
Study showed Nephrolepis cordifolia rhizome juice to be active in the
renal system of rats. Results indicated it to be an effective hypernatremic,
hyperchloremic hyperkalemic diuretic.
• Nutrient Analysis:
Study showed tubers contain high amount of moisture, fat, carbohydrate and calcium, while protein are maximum in the rhizome part of the plant.
• Antibacterial Polysaccharide:
Study extract polysaccharide which was shown to have various activities against gram positive phytopathogenic microorganisms and animal pathogenic bacteria.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
Common garden hedge plant.
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