Scientific name: Adiantum lunulatum Burm. f.
Family: Adiantaceae
Synonym: Adiantum philippense L.
Bengali/Vernacular name: Biddapata, Kalijhant, Filipino pakha.
Tribal name: Bandar tala, Chikonjat bandartala (Chakma); Kobamoin phul, Kobamugo aso phul (Marma).
English name: Walking maiden hair fern, Philippine maiden hair.
Description of the plant: A small and delicate fern. Stipes tufted, slender, dark brown, shining, glabrous, 5-20 cm long. Fronds 15-30 cm long and 7 cm broad, simply pinnate, often elongated and rooting at the apex; pinnae subdimidiate, the lower edge nearly in a line or oblique with the petiole, the upper edge rounded; the rachis and both surfaces naked. Sori are oblong to linear, and as long as the lobes are broad.
Plant parts used: Frond, root.
Ethnomedicinal uses: Juice extracted from the fronds of the fern is given in the infected eye once a day (two drops) for two days to treat ophthalmia.
Decoction prepared from the fronds of the fern is taken twice a day (10 ml amount each time) until the dysentery is cured.
The fern is used as a lotion for falling hair and baldness.
A fresh juice is extracted from the frond of the fern is taken three times a day (5 ml amount each time) to control the diabetes.
A fresh juice is extracted from the frond of the fern is taken three times a day (10 ml amount each time) until the febrile convulsion (high fever) is cured.
Dried roots of the fern mixed with water are taken orally by women once during menstruation for sterility.
The fern is used for the treatment of asthma, bronchitis, cold, cough, epilepsy, leprosy, ulcers, fever, gallstone, jaundice, sore throat, skin disease, snake bite, and tumour.
Distribution: The species commonly occurs in the Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Comilla, Cox’s Bazar, Dhaka, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Saidpur, and Satkhira in shade.
Is this plant misidentified? If yes, please tell us….
