It has long been believed that on Midsummer Night, only for a moment, blazing with bright red fire, the fern blossoms. And the daredevil, who dared to pluck the "fire-color", is endowed with incredible abilities. Scientists have long debunked a beautiful legend, because of the huge number of species of this plant, not one blooms. Why did our ancestors sacredly believe in the magical power of the fern? Is it because they knew about its healing properties?
Male fern or male shield (Latin name - Dryopteris filix-mas) is a perennial plant growing in the forest zone of the Eurasian and North American continents. It is found everywhere in Russian forests, forest belts of Altai, the Caucasus, Kuznetsk Alatau and the Far East. The male fern does not have an above-ground stem, and large basal leaves reach a length of 1.2 meters. The male thyroid gland on the underside of its oblong dark green leaves has roundformations - sori in which spores ripen. From the end of June to September, the spores spill out, are picked up by air currents and, falling into the soil, give life to new plants. The rhizome of the fern is powerful, horizontal or ascending, covered with the remains of dead leaf petioles and thin membranous scales. It was the rhizome that was included in the medical fees compiled from time immemorial to get rid of worms.
The male thyroid is poisonous, preparations from it are also unsafe. In medical institutions, filiksan is used - a dry extract of the male fern, a thick extract of the rhizome of the plant in capsules and foreign analogues of these medicines. They are used for intestinal cestodosis - a group of helminthic diseases that are caused by tapeworms. The components of the extract are able to paralyze the muscles of parasites, which leads to their death. When prescribing a dose of the drug, doctors take into account the age of the patient, his physical condition, as well as possible contraindications. These drugs should not be taken by patients with certain diseases of the heart, blood vessels and digestive organs. Pregnancy, active tuberculosis, malnutrition, anemia are also contraindications to the use of drugs based on the male thyroid rhizome.
Everything that traditional medicine includes in its arsenal (medicinal herbs, their preparations, all kinds of tinctures, infusions, ointments) should be used with some caution, because not only the male shield is poisonous, but also some other medicinal plants. Traditional healers from time immemorial use the beneficial properties of the male fern to get rid of parasites, for which the patient is advised to drink a glass of milk first, and then a glass of wine with a few grams of rhizome powder. With the help of external agents, which include the thyroid gland, they treat veins with thrombophlebitis, rheumatism, various ulcers and convulsive contractions of the muscles of the legs.
Don't forget that the fern is poisonous! Treatment with male thyroid preparations can only be carried out after consultation with a doctor.
