Ferns – Polypodiophyta
Male shieldweed - Dryopteris filix-mas (L.) Schott (1834)

Status: 3 (R). A rare species, a nemoral relic of the Tertiary age.

Short description.

The plant is short-rhizomatous, large, fronds are 40–100 cm tall, close together, forming a funnel. Petioles are short, brownish-scaly. The frond plates are elongated, oblong-elliptical, doubly pinnate, lined with narrow brownish films along the rachis and midribs. Segments of the first order are elongated-lanceolate, long pointed. Segments of the second order, numbering 20–30 pairs, oblong, obtuse, serrated along the edge. The sori are two-rowed, the spathes are kidney-shaped, membranous, and non-deciduous. The spores are oval-reniform, with a warty-tubercular surface, partly comb-like on the outside.

Spreading.

Known from a number of locations confined to the black and taiga belt of the Sayan: the Kulumyssky, Kedransky, Ergaki, Borus ridges, in the lower reaches of the Mal. and Bol. Kebezh, Tanzybey, Oya, Taigish, Shadat, Tyukhtet, Amyl (Western Sayan); Kryzhina ridge and surroundings. Krasnoyarsk - r. Karaulnaya, Manskoe zaimishche, Krutaya village, r. Kashtak, r. Laletina (Eastern Sayan). Outside the region, it occurs sporadically throughout Southern Siberia and Eastern Europe. Outside Russia it is known from Western Europe, North America, Central Asia, Himalayas.

Ecology and biology.

A characteristic representative of the grass cover of black forests, it is also found in mixed pine-birch and taiga communities. Less common in subalpine meadows and large rocky screes.

Limiting factors. Relict nature of the species, narrow ecological amplitude. Destruction of habitats due to their economic use.

Security measures. It is necessary to preserve the black forest complex; annexation of the territory of the Big and Small Kebezh river basins to the Ergaki natural park. It is protected in the Stolby and Sayano-Shushensky nature reserves and the Shushensky Bor national park.

Information sources.. 1. Flora..., 1988(a); 2. Fomin..., 1930; 3. Flora..., 1983; 4. Cherepnin, 1957; 5. Stepanov, 1994; 6. Shmakov, 1999; 7. Grichuk, Monoszon, 1971; 8. Flora..., 2003. Compiled by: N.V. Stepanov. Drawing: V.S. Stepanov, N.V. Stepanov.

(Dryopteridaceae) and is one of the most widespread species of this genus both in nature and in artificial landscaping.

Name

Generic name Dryopteris literally translated as oak forest fern (derived from the Greek words. δρυας - “oak” and πτηρων - “bird’s wing”; some European species of this genus are actually found in oak forests).

At the top of the rhizome there is a rosette of large leaves with a double-pinnate blade. Long (lanceolate-shaped) erect fronds are collected in a funnel-shaped bunch. Sterile leaves are smaller, wide, soft and lacy, sometimes sagging or gently bending downwards under their weight. Fertile leaves are erect, narrower and coarser. Leaf petioles are short, thick, densely covered with short brown scales. If you turn the leaf with the bottom side towards you, you can see on the segments of the leaf blade 5-8 sori, located exactly in the places where the feeding veins branch and covered on top with kidney-shaped veils. The sori are arranged in two rows. The spores (visible only under a powerful microscope) are kidney-shaped with ridges and truncated warts over the entire surface.

The leaves of the male shield plant are very decorative. They can reach a length of one or even one and a half meters, but they grow slowly, do not become coarse for a long time and can be easily damaged. Appearing in the form of leaf primordia in the form of a narrow ring around the growing point at the top of the rhizome, they overwinter in this form for the first time - and only in the second summer do they take on the snail-shaped shape characteristic of all ferns. Young leaves appear in the very center of the rosette and are thus maximally protected from any external influences. The thick covering of scales and the curled, snail-shaped position of young leaves best protect the delicate tissues of the growing leaf tip from drying out and any mechanical damage. The bunch of young leaves spends another year in this snail-like state. And only in the spring of the third year do young leaves quickly unfold into a dense rosette and reach their full development. Thus, at the height of the growing season, all three forms of leaves of a three-year cycle can be found on each plant at the same time: these are one-year buds, two-year snails and fully developed erect mature fronds. Formed leaves live for one season, perform a vegetative function, as well as a reproductive function - and wither in the same autumn. But by that time, disputes have already ripened and dissipated, of which favorable conditions in the same autumn, a heart-shaped gametophyte (a primitive bisexual outgrowth of a new plant), abundantly covered with glandular hairs, grows and goes under the snow for the winter.

Spreading

Shield thickets in spring

The male shield plant can be fully called a cosmopolitan among plants. It has mastered the most extensive areas of growth - it can be found from Greenland and Scandinavia to Mexico and the Mediterranean. On the territory of Russia, its range is no less wide: it can be found from the Kola Peninsula in the north of the European part - to the mountain forest regions of the Caucasus, Cis-Urals, Urals and southern Siberia. The male shield plant is also found in Central Asia. In the mountains, it settles in beech, spruce, fir and juniper forests, rising in places to the alpine and mountain-tundra belts. It can even grow in the Arctic - on southern slopes protected from the wind and warmed up in summer, covered in winter with a thick snow cover. However, the main part of its range is located in the forest zone, where it is found in coniferous, mixed and deciduous forests.

In temperate forests (e.g. middle zone Russia or the North-West), the male shield often forms dense communities, displacing almost all other plants from the favorable territory. However, single specimens are also not uncommon. The favorite place of settlement of the male shield insect is moderately swampy (or even semi-dry) fires, exclusion zones railways, clearings, where, in conditions of reduced competition, you can find particularly extensive thickets of this plant. However, despite its wide and almost ubiquitous distribution, the male shield plant is included in whole line regional red books (for example, Murmansk region, Buryatia, included in the summary of rare and endangered plants of Siberia) and is recognized as a threatened species. This is primarily due to the vulnerability of already formed plant communities that do not tolerate deforestation and any human intrusion into their habitat. But not only the community as a whole, but also each plant individually has quite sensitive rhizomes that are easily damaged, but very difficult to restore. In addition, male shieldweed is a constant subject of collection - as a medicinal raw material, decorative garden plant and as a component for growing greenhouse epiphytes (a component of the epiphytic substrate, the so-called fern roots). Half a century ago, the rhizomes of the shield plant were widely used for tanning leather and dyeing it in yellow. Now, however, only rare artisans - tanners who adhere to old natural recipes - use fern for these purposes.

Medicinal use

Male shieldweed has been widely and for a very long time known as medicinal plant. Medicinal properties This plant was already known to doctors of ancient times and the Middle Ages. In particular, he is repeatedly mentioned in the works of Dioscorides and Pliny. The plant is poisonous (especially the rhizome), the possibility of poisoning cannot be ruled out! The rhizome has a specific smell and a sweetish-tart taste. It is the rhizome along with the bases of the leaves and scales that are used as medicinal raw materials.

cultivated plant

Male shieldweed is widely used as a highly decorative cultivated plant in urban landscaping, in personal plots and in gardening. In Europe, it has been known in culture at least since the 17th century and has at least two dozen cultivated breeding forms that are very different from the natural species. However, indirectly one can also judge that in both Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire its use took place as a cultural or at least cultivated wild plant. The word itself felix or filix in living Latin of the times of the emperors it had one meaning, but it was very widely used both in the literal and figurative sense of the word. Word filix meant fern, or (more broadly) weed, and in a figurative sense - an annoying visitor, a nonentity, as well as unwanted body hair. It is the second meaning of this word ( weed) and allows us to judge the wide distribution of this beautiful fern with a regular crown of leaves, as well as the possibility of its decorative use in cities and in those places in the garden, near a stone fence or near a house, where its presence not only did not interfere with other plants (the weed did not have to be removed), but was also desirable.

Currently, gardeners and landscapers are actively using more than three dozen varieties of male shield, differing mainly in the size, shape and density of the leaves. Some of the most famous and vibrant cultural forms are given below:

Shieldweed male variety"Cristata"

• "Barnesii" - plants are close in size to the natural form, although they seem more compact, collected, height up to 80-90 cm. The leaves are narrower and stiffer, straight and hold their shape well, which creates the impression of a geometric plant.
• "Crispa" are plants with shorter leaves. The lobes of each leaf are wider than those of the original type and almost touch each other, forming, as it were, a solid sheet plate. The height of the plant does not exceed half a meter.
• "Crispa Capitata" is a compact plant with rather thin and long leaves. Individual segments are strongly curly and abundantly branched, both in the form of forks and in the form of ridges. From a distance the plant resembles a large bunch of parsley.
• "Crispa Cristata" is a similarly compact plant, but each segment and leaf as a whole ends in a curl, comb, or partial fan, which gives the impression of curling.
• "Cristata" - large plants with leaves wider than those of the main species. It also differs in the shape of the end of each feather. compound sheet. As the name of the variety suggests, each leaf ends not with a “point”, but with a comb or fan, gradually narrowing from the base and turning sharply at the end.
• "Furcata" - medium-sized plants, individual leaf lobes bifurcate many times, especially closer to the tips. The variety is apparently derived from the previous one.
• "Grandiceps" are large plants, even larger than their natural counterparts. The main petiole of the leaf branches profusely at the end, resulting in the leaf resembling the shape of a mushroom with a cap or a badminton racket. Each feather of a complex leaf, gracefully arching and drooping, also forms a fan - or “cristata”, as in the previous variety. Hardy, very decorative and unpretentious variety, widespread in culture.
• "Linearis Congesta" - (a form of "compress"), as if a compressed plant with leaves three times shorter than those of the natural species (30-40 cm). The individual leaf feathers are planted very densely, giving the impression of curliness.
• "Linearis Polydactyla" - similar to the previous variety. A compact plant, the individual leaf feathers are narrow, almost linear, branching sharply at the end, forming something like the open palm of a hand.
• "Multicristata" - a variety generally close to the variety Crispa Cristata, taller and wider. The end of the sheet as a whole and of each segment individually ends correct form comb The plant is dense, the height of the bush is up to 70 cm.
• "Ramo Cristata" is a very fan-shaped form. Both the entire leaf and each feather individually branches fan-like almost from the very base. The plant as a whole is completely different from the original species.
• "Squamulosa" is a compact, low and very dense plant, the leaf lobes touch or partially overlap each other, in addition, each blade is strongly corrugated, as if the leaf had been crushed in the hands for a long time. The height of the bush is no more than 40 cm.

• A widespread legend or superstition about a flower (fire flower) of a fern, which must be found on the night of Ivan Kupala, is associated precisely with the male shield plant. Whoever found such a flower that night, underground treasures and the gift of foresight were revealed. The “fire” flower supposedly could make any person invisible, give him power over dark forces, and make him fabulously rich or happy. However, legend is silent about what magical properties the spores or sporangia of this fern have, since they are not as difficult to find as a flower.

• The male shield plant in nature serves as food for large quantity wild animals. Elk especially loves the leaves of this fern. In the mid-1970s, zoologists of the Sayan Nature Reserve tried to find out what the role of the shield plant is in the nutrition of large herbivores. The results of calculations on the time and speed of movement of moose through the forest turned out to be surprising. Typically, these animals eat almost without stopping and tearing off the leaves of trees and bushes as they go. The average speed of movement of an elk through the forest is approximately 2.5 meters per minute. And in floodplain meadows with rich vegetation, and even in water, this speed practically did not change. But in the thickets of shieldweed, the tender leaves of which seem to be the easiest to pick, the elk literally “gets stuck”, almost stops and begins to graze at a speed of only one meter per minute, quite seriously thinning out the dense thickets of fern. This simultaneously gives good result for young cedar seedlings, which under the continuous cover of shieldweed often die from lack of light and excess moisture.

In the temperate climate zone, the most common type of fern is the shield fern. From today's article you will learn which varieties of shieldweed are the most popular and what their uses are.

The description of the fern must begin with the fact that modern world More than 150 species of this plant crop grow. The official scientific name for this group of plants is Dryopteris, which translates to “oak forest fern.”

For the first time, plant crops began to be grown in the Northern Hemisphere. But today different kinds found throughout the globe. You can find the plant both in tropical countries and in Eurasian countries. The fern grows in South America and takes root well in the climatic conditions of Asian countries.

Grows mainly on mountain slopes. Easy to care for. Characterized by frost resistance.

Concerning appearance of these plant crops, the description of the shield fern is as follows: the leaves are collected in bunches of regular shape - such varieties are called nest-shaped or funnel-shaped. There are shield plants with sporangia on the lower part of the foliage arranged in even rows or in a chaotic manner. The rhizome of the fern is strong, rather short, and covered with scales or glands.

This plant blooms only once a year on the eve of the celebration of Ivan Kupala Day. It is believed that a person who manages to pick a flower that night will be able to learn all the secrets of the world and find treasures.

Video “How to care for ferns”

Main varieties

As mentioned above, there are many varieties of shieldweed. However, the following five varieties are the most popular and widespread.

Male

The male fern grows primarily in the forest belt of Eurasia. This plant crop prefers deciduous forests with soil rich in nutrients. This plant does best in the shade.

Foliage male fern rude. The leaf shape is oblong. This type It is distinguished by a specific odor of leaves, which is not characteristic of other varieties of shieldweed. The rhizome or bulb of the male fern is large.

The use of the male fern is basically one: the plant is used to create a beautiful and unusual landscape design.

Needle

This variety is most common in the Caucasus, as well as in western Siberia. In addition, needle fern bulbs can be purchased in South America, since here this plant is also settling in well.

The rhizome is scaly. However, the main feature is the bare leaf blade underneath, which is characteristic only of this plant. In height, such a crop can reach about 80 cm.

Field

Prefers acidic soils. It is best to plant such a plant crop near swamps and wet fields. This species of shield insect does not tolerate dehydration.

The stems of field fern are long. The leaves are large and feathery. The root is also quite large. Feature And distinguishing feature This type has a complex foliage structure.

Comb

It grows in many European countries, as well as in Siberia. Prefers soils in areas of swampy forests and moss bogs. Characterized by rich dark green foliage. The leaves are comb-shaped and can reach 60 cm in length.

Odorous

This plant crop lives in Siberia, China and North America. Grows mainly in rocky areas. The leaves tolerate even severe frosts well. The foliage smells very nice. The height of an adult plant is about 30 cm.

Plant properties

Areas of application

This plant crop is used not only for medical and preventive purposes. It is also used in cooking. Young shoots are added to salads and various snacks. However, most often all sorts of elixirs are prepared from the roots and leaves, which help eliminate the ailments described above.

Present) the most valuable for its medicinal properties is the male shield plant, which has the Latin name Dryopteris filix-mas. Popularly, this fern is also called kochedednik, perun fireflower, luminous flower or fire flower.

Like all ferns, this plant is perennial. Without a stem, it has a very powerful rhizome, horizontal or ascending type. Moreover, the entire surface of this part of the male shield is covered with dead leaf petioles (or rather, with what remains of them), as well as with thin scales in the form of membranes. Large dark green leaves grow directly from the rhizome in a bunch, reaching more than one meter in length.

As has long been proven, ferns do not bloom. Therefore, you should not look for the cherished flower that fulfills a wish (according to ancient legends), even on the night of Ivan’s Kupala. So the shield plant is no exception to this rule. The plant reproduces by spores that mature in sori - round-shaped formations located in two rows on each leaf on the underside. At the end of the first summer month spores begin to spill out of the sori. Having left the fern, the seeds, picked up by air currents, are carried over large areas. After each spore falls into the soil, a new plant begins to develop. This breeding process lasts until autumn.

The distribution area of ​​the male shield is quite wide, since it is found in forest zones not only of Eurasia, but also of North America. Its favorite places to grow are forests with fairly high soil moisture and low sunlight penetration. The plant is very poisonous. Therefore, it is not used at all in everyday life. But they are very much appreciated medicinal properties male shieldweed, which will help in the fight against helminths with strict adherence to the recommended dosage of drugs.

Harvesting and storage of shieldweed

The rhizome of the plant is used as a raw material for the preparation of preparations. Harvesting of shieldweed occurs throughout September and October. You should not completely dig up all the plants in a forest area so that the remaining individuals can restore their population. It is recommended to leave about a quarter of the total number of plants. Please note that repeated procurement of raw materials in this area will be possible after five or even ten years.

After removing the shield rhizome from the soil, it must be very well cleaned of soil residues, small roots, green leaves, as well as the remains of dead petioles. To speed up the drying process of the rhizomes, they can be cut into pieces from 1.5 cm to 6 cm in length and from 1 cm to 3 cm in width. After this, the rhizomes are placed in special dryers or shaded places with good ventilation (for example, in attic spaces or under awnings). After this process, the finished raw materials should lose about a third of the weight of fresh preparations.

You can store finished raw materials in linen bags in a dry room for no more than one year.

The use of shieldweed in folk medicine

Since the male shield plant is very poisonous plant, then use it for the manufacture of preparations for external use according to prescriptions traditional medicine you need to be very careful, without violating the dosage. Be sure to consult your doctor before doing this. Only with his consent can treatment begin folk remedies, which are auxiliary to the main method of combating the disease. Below are some traditional medicine recipes for preparations prepared using the rhizomes of the male shield plant.

Tincture used to combat varicose veins, rheumatism and leg muscle cramps

To prepare this infusion, you need to take one part of the fern rhizomes, previously crushed in a blender, and pour them with four parts of alcohol diluted to 40°, or ready-made vodka. Then, tightly closing the container, leave it to steep for two weeks. After this, the infusion from the rhizomes of the male shield is rubbed into the sore parts of the legs using a cotton swab.

Preparation of pills from rhizomes used to combat worms

This is a recipe for preparing a drug that is similar to the finished pharmacological form at home. To do this, 10 g of dry rhizomes are poured into a glass of boiling water, and then the container is placed on the fire to cook the raw material until the broth is reduced in volume by half. After this, every 5 ml of liquid must be mixed with a slurry of flour and honey, and then the resulting dough must be divided into 10 parts - pills. Take this anthelmintic drug only under the supervision of your doctor.

A decoction of the rhizomes of the male shield, used to combat varicose dermatitis and leg ulcers

To prepare the drug according to this recipe, you will need 1 kg of fern rhizomes, which must be filled with five liters of boiling water. After this, the dishes with the broth must be put on fire to boil the raw materials in boiling water for another 2 hours. This decoction is recommended for bathing. Each procedure, lasting half an hour, requires the use of 1 liter of decoction. The course of treatment includes taking thirty baths.

A decoction of the rhizomes of the male shield, used for compresses and washing ulcers

To prepare this preparation, you will need to take 30 g of fern rhizomes, previously crushed in a blender, and place them in a bowl with 1 liter of water. After this, place the dishes on the fire, bring the water to a boil and cook the raw materials for 60 minutes. Then the broth must be removed from the heat, allowed to cool and strain. The product is used for compresses and washing of purulent wounds until they are completely healed.

Gruel from fresh rhizomes of the male shield, helping in the fight against varicose veins

It is necessary to dig up a fresh fern rhizome, thoroughly clean it of soil residues, leaves and rinse it under running water. After this, the raw material must be ground in a blender until it becomes mushy. Taking one tablespoon of the composition, move it in a ratio of 1 to 1 s sour milk. The resulting product is applied to the affected area of ​​the leg in a layer about 1 cm thick for 6 hours. To fix the product on the leg, you need to wrap a bandage or gauze on top.

Contraindications

The use of drugs based on this plant is prohibited if the patient has:

• some diseases of the cardiovascular system (for example, heart failure);
• pathologies in the liver;
• kidney diseases;
• disorders in the gastrointestinal tract;
• signs of exhaustion of the body;
• anemia;
• active tuberculosis.

If, as a result of a violation of the dosage of taking medications, the body is poisoned, then it is necessary to take emergency measures to alleviate the well-being of the victim. It is possible to determine that a patient has been poisoned by the following obvious signs: nausea, hiccups, belching, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, depressed breathing, convulsions and blurred vision. In this case, it is necessary to urgently rinse the patient’s stomach, give him a saline laxative and place the victim in a warm bath. After this, it is necessary to call an ambulance, whose doctors will be able to provide qualified assistance to the patient.

Do not use castor oil at the same time as taking medications based on the male shield, as this can lead to complete loss of vision for the patient!

Dryopteris filix-mas (synonym of Aspidium filix-mas, Nephrodium filix-mas)
Taxon: family Shchitovnikov ( Dryopteridaceae)
Other names: male fern, helminthic fern, spool fern, flea fern
English: Male Fern

Generic Latin name plants Dryopteris derived from two Greek words - “drys” (oak) and “pteris” (fern). The word "pteris" comes from "pteron" - wing, feather: the fern leaf resembles a bird's feather. Literally translated, the name means “oak forest fern”, “oak forest”.

Botanical description

To avoid possible side effect high doses of fern extract per body, it can be administered directly into the intestines through a duodenal tube, which allows you to reduce the dose of the drug to 4 g and gives a good therapeutic effect. The tablet preparation Filixan, which contains biologically active substances from the rhizomes of male fern, has comparatively less toxicity.

For external use, prepare a tincture of male fern (1 part of crushed rhizome is poured with 4 parts of alcohol for 14 days), which is rubbed into sore spots several times a day. A decoction (1 kg of rhizomes is boiled in 5 liters of water for 2 hours) is used for baths taken for varicose dermatitis and leg ulcers (1 liter of decoction per bath), the course of treatment is 30 baths, the duration of the procedure is 30 minutes.

In Korea, an ethereal extract of the rhizomes of Sikhotinsky fern and thick-rhizome fern is used as an anthelmintic. The latter also showed therapeutic effectiveness against ascariasis of the biliary tract and amoebic dysentery.

The use of preparations of the rhizomes of fern thick rhizomatous for uterine bleeding has been reported, but such treatment is considered quite dangerous.

Studies of thick-rhizome fernene isolated from fern leaves have shown its effectiveness in... To treat psoriasis and prevent parapsoriasis, the polar fraction of the leaf and rhizome extract was also used. This fraction does not contain filicin and is therefore characterized by low toxicity.

In the USA, complex herbal preparations with antiviral and immunostimulating activity have been patented, which contain polysaccharides and flavonoids extracted from the rhizomes of thick rhizomatous fern as active ingredients.

Extract of male fern rhizomes is part of the complex homeopathic preparations Antihelmin, Helminton.

In veterinary medicine, preparations of male fern in the form of powders from dried rhizomes, extracts and preparations of filixan and filmaron are used for helminthiasis of sheep, cattle, cats, dogs and chickens. These drugs are prescribed simultaneously with saline laxatives. Giving castor oil to animals when treating helminthiasis with fern preparations is contraindicated ( Zharikov I. S. et al., 1986).

In Vietnam, the rhizomes of male fern are used as an insecticide.

Male fern medicinal products

Filixan(Filixanum) - the sum of the active substances of the rhizomes of the male fern, available in the form of tablets of 0.5 g.
Prescribed for taeniosis orally once for adults: 14-16 tablets (7-8 g), children aged 2-5 years - 2-5 tablets (1-2.5 g), 6-10 years - 6-8 tablets (3-4 g), 11-15 years old - 10-12 tablets (5-6 g). The highest single dose for adults (single dose) is 10 g. Patient preparation and method of application are similar to those for the use of thick male fern extract.

Digestodoron(Weleda, Austria) - tablets or oral solution containing extracts of male fern, common centipede, scolopendra leaf, common bracken, purple willow and Salix vitellina. Used as an anthelmintic, 1-2 tablets 15 minutes before meals, washed down with water.

Antihelminthic agent is produced abroad " Rosapin" and the drug " Toxifren».

Antihelmin(Antihelminum, NVFF Alkoy, Russia) is a complex homeopathic preparation in the form of granules containing Abrotanum C3, Cina C3, Sabadilla C3, Filix C6 and Nux vomica C6. It is used for infestations of round and tapeworms. Adults are prescribed 8 granules 3-5 times a day 30 minutes before meals or 1 hour after meals under the tongue, children under 10 years old - 5 granules 3-5 times a day.

Helminton(National Homeopathic Union, Ukraine) - a complex homeopathic preparation in the form of granules containing Cina 200, Spigelia 30, Sabadilla 30, Teucrium 30 and Filix mas 30. Used for helminthic infestations. Prescribe 3 granules 3 times a day before meals, the course of treatment is 1-2 months.

R. V. Kutsik, B. M. Zuzuk
Ivano-Frankivsk State Medical Academy

Photos and illustrations