Common bracken (Pteridium aquilinum L.)

Common bracken is a perennial plant from the family of Centipedes (Polypodiaceae).

Description:

Perennial rather tall fern with creeping woody, almost black rhizome and erect rounded stem. Leaves on long petioles, most often in whorls of three, dense, light green, triangular; lobes of the second order are oblong, pinnatipartite at the base. In spring, young leaves are twisted at the top; in summer, sporangia are found along the edges of the leaf lobes, merging into a continuous line under the curled edge of the leaf.

Contains active substances:

Bracken rhizome contains hydrocyanic and bracken-tannic acids, alkaloids, essential oil and pteraquilin.

Medicinal use:

Bracken rhizome is boiled and drunk for stomach pains, a decoction of the whole plant is used for tapeworms; a decoction of the aerial part of the plant is drunk for aching joints, for coughing.