Dorothy FarrarCommon Polypody
Common polypody or sweet angel – as the old medicinal plant is popularly known – owes its name to its extremely sweet taste. It is one of the oldest plants on earth. The elegantly curved fern fronds are used in this country as cut greens when tying flowers. In addition, the common polypody is valued as a decorative ornamental plant.
Definition and Occurrence
The polypodium (Polypodium vulgare) belongs to the botanical polypodium family. Other names of the green plant are oak fern and coral root.
The evergreen perennial and upright fern usually settles closely together. It has dark green, leathery and only slightly feathered leaf fronds that vary greatly in length: some are as little as 8 cm long, while others are 70 cm. They have a basal stalk and are arranged alternately.
On the lighter underside of the frost-resistant leaf fronds, there are clusters of round, pitted, yellowish-brown spores (sori) arranged in two rows from July to October. The Polypody Fern grows 25 to 50 cm high or grows horizontally as a creeper from a rootstock (rhizome) covered with scales and thickened in some places like a bulb. It does not form flowers or fruits .
To use the plant as a natural remedy, the rootstock is dug up in October/November or February, cleaned, dried, cut into pieces about 5 cm long and stored in a cool, dark tin. The Polypody fern occurs in Europe, Asia, North America and South Africa. As an epiphyte, it grows on old, mossy trees and damp walls. In Germany, hikers prefer to find it in the Allgäu Alps up to an altitude of 2,100 m up to the Bavarian Forest. The old medicinal plant loves semi-shady and shady locations with moist, loose, stony, loamy or sandy soil with a humus top layer. The walker usually finds the common polypody in oak, birch and beech forests on moss soil and in stone (wall) crevices.
Ingredients, effect and dosage
The Polypody fern contains tannins , bitter substances and mucilage , flavonoids , essential oils , resins, phloroglucinol, pteridin, glycyrrhizin and polysaccharides . Only the root is suitable for medicinal use. The plant hormone ecdysterone it contains is similar to chemical anabolic steroids in terms of its molecular structure and is therefore added to dietary supplements for athletes who want to build muscle quickly .The ancient remedy, already known to the Greeks and Romans, has a slightly laxative , blood and wound cleansing, diuretic , expectorant , anti-inflammatory , appetite-increasing, pain- relieving , mood-enhancing and bile secretion-promoting effect.
Medicinal teas for internal use and poultices for external use are made from the rhizome. Patients who want to prepare polythene tea take 15 g of dried and crushed roots and pour 500 ml of boiling water over them. Then cover and let the tea steep for 10 minutes and drink a cup of the tea, preferably sweetened with honey, 3 times a day.
When using the natural remedy internally, the recommended dosage should be followed exactly, otherwise the tea can have a slightly toxic effect. Therefore, most naturopaths recommend the purchase of polythene medicinal products (drops, tablets). Drizzled onto an envelope, the cold tea decoction can be used to treat rheumatism, gout and skin diseases. Common Polypody Fern ingredients are now added to various bitters because they have a slight digestive stimulant effect.
What does the common polypody help against?
importance to health
The health-promoting effect of the common polypody was already known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. They treated rheumatism and skin diseases with the active ingredients isolated from the plant and mixed with an ointment base. The Middle Ages also made use of the diverse healing effects of the common polypody. The herbal tea has been used to treat coughs and hoarseness, whooping cough, nightmares, constipation, intestinal parasites, gout, rheumatism and liver diseases.
The famous healer Hildegard von Bingen praised its properties for relieving stomach pains and curing intestinal diseases. In addition, the proven medicinal plant, whose effects have not yet been clinically studied, was used for contraception and for the abortion of the fetus. The decocted root also helped drive away bugs and fleas.
Traditional Chinese medicine has used it for thousands of years to treat sprains, dislocations, abrasions, tinnitus, edema, constipation and as a styptic. Today, the polypody is mainly used in naturopathy as a natural antibiotic and because of its expectorant, expectorant and anti-inflammatory properties it is used to treat coughs, bronchitis, asthma, hoarseness and fever.The bitter substances contained in the rhizome also help with gastrointestinal complaints, thanks to their bile secretion-stimulating effect on constipation and even kill tapeworms in the intestine. The anti-microbial properties of the root are also proven to be effective against hives and other skin inflammations. To do this, an envelope with common polythene tea decoction is simply placed on the affected area of skin.
Hello and welcome to my Health Guide & Encyclopedia! My name is Dorothy Farrar, and I'm the founder and main author of this platform.
My passion for health and wellness started at a young age when I became interested in the connection between the food we eat and the way we feel. This fascination led me to study nutrition and dietetics in college, where I learned about the importance of a balanced diet and the impact of various nutrients on the body.