Potential uses of lycophytes and ferns in Sri Lanka: an ethnopteridological perspective

Abstract

Background: Ethnopteridology is a branch of ethnobotany researching the relationship between pteridophytes and humans. Unlike many seed plants, pteridophytes are generally not extensively used. However, it has long been reported that tropical ferns are used by various indigenous communities. Literature highlighted that to date no comprehensive ethnoperidological survey was performed in Sri Lanka, though it is known that some pteridophytes are used by local communities as home remedies and food sources. Our objective was to present a comprehensive review of the relationships between the pteridophytes and local communities. Methods:We tried to compile a list of potential uses of pteridophytes of Sri Lanka after a comprehensive review of relevant literature and based on gathered information from informal discussions with village communities and indigenous medical practitioners.Results: Here we identified 37 species with medicinal, food, ornamental, and other uses. Of these 10 species have categorized as threatened under the National Red List-2020. This article documents that pteridophytes have immense potential to be used as food, medicinal and ornamental, and that they still remain neglected. Conclusions:It is evident that although a considerable number of Sri Lankan pteridophyte species have potential as food, medicinal and ornamental species, they still remain underutilized and neglected crop genetic resources. Further, this study is emphasized that such species and their associated knowledge are at risk and highly vulnerable to changing physical environment, increasing population pressure, and rapid development of socio-economic status of Sri Lanka.

Ethnomedicinal uses of the Ferns of Shishikoh Valley, District Chitral, Pakistan

“…Fidelity level "FL" means the % of informants who stated the practice of flora for identical purpose. FL of plant species was considered by using the procedure (28).…”

Ferns and lycophytes: an ethnobotany review for Brazil

“…Given these factors, the current scenery on pteridophytes ethnobotany in Brazil is diffuse and data is scattered, hindering access to this information. There is also no ethnobotanical review in the country as in other places such as Argentina (Scarpa & Cassa 2015), Ukraine (Minarchenko et al 2017) and Sri Lanka (Ranil & Bussmann 2021), and few publications with a specific focus on the group, as in Barros & Andrade (1997) and Reinaldo et al (2015). Gathering this data provides an important overview on the use of these plant groups and grants easy access to which species could be prospected for deeper, more specialized studies, using this concentrated information as a starting point to select species.…”