70-NEPHROLEPIS spp Schott.
Local names: Neche, fern
Family: Nephrolepidaceae
Location: Department of Botany, Botanical garden
Characters: Nephrolepis is a genus of about 30 species of ferns. It is the only genus in the family Nephrolepidaceae, placed in the suborder Aspleniineae (eupolypods I) of the order Polypodiales in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). (It is placed in the Dryopteridaceae in some other classification). The genus is commonly referred to as macho ferns or Boston ferns. The fronds are long and narrow, and once-pinnate, in the case of one Bornean species reaching thirty feet (nine meters) in length.
General use: Very young curled-up leaves are eaten cooked or steamed as a vegetable in Java and New Guinea. The rhizomes of N. biserrata are dried, pounded, prepared and eaten in the same way as sago. In India and tropical America the tubers of N. cordifolia are eaten. N. biserrata is used in traditional medicine against cough. It is applied to stop wounds bleeding. It is planted on a large scale as soil cover in rubber plantations because the roots release a considerable amount of nitrogen. A decoction of fresh leaves of N. cordifolia is used as a drink for cough, while a decoction from its tubers is applied against goitre. Young leaves of N. hirsutula are used as a poultice for swelling wounds and boils. Leaves are placed among bones in death ceremonies. The fibro-vascular bundles of the stems of N. hirsutula are extracted and occasionally used in the manufacture of hats, mats, baskets and other wickerwork. Many Nephrolepis species are used and commonly cultivated as ornamentals, including for example N. cordifolia and N. hirsutula which are popular ornamentals in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines (both as plants and as cut leaves in flower arrangements). When grown in hanging baskets they produce hundreds of gracefully hanging, thin stolons.