The Cultural and Healing Worth of Pteridophytes: An Ethnobotanical Impression
Review Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21276/pt.2025.v2.i4.3Keywords:
Pteridophytes, Ethnobotany, Traditional Medicine, Indigenous Knowledge, Cultural Uses, Biodiversity ConservationAbstract
Pteridophytes, one of the ancient plant groups, have been utilized in the ethnic and therapeutic practices of many cultures. They comprise lycophytes and ferns. These primitive "vascular cryptogams" are much more than decorative plants from the evolutionary past; pteridophytes have been used multifariously in customary medications as a valuable constituent of ethnobotany. Apart from therapeutic uses, these plants are used as sacrament plants, foods, homely items, and culturally distinct symbols all through Asia, Africa, Europe, and America. For centuries, species like Adiantum capillus-veneris, Drynaria quercifolia, Pteris multifida, and Selaginella bryopteris have been employed in conventional medical systems like Unani, Ayurveda, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Currently, many indigenous peoples still use locally grown species of pteridophytes for daily nutrition and useful remedies. Regardless of their widespread cultural presence, these plants are still less studied in contemporary materia medica. However, an array of bioactive chemicals with antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer potentials have recently been found. This review reveals the perpetual implication of pteridophytes and gives importance to the need to sustain traditional knowledge, lift the sustainable use, and explore their potential in upcoming drug invention by amalgamating global ethnobotanical acquaintance with modern scientific understandings.
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