TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover Page-          –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        i

Certification-        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        ii

Dedication- –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        iii

Acknowledgements-       –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        iv

Table of Content- –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        v

Summary-   –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        vii

CHAPTER
ONE

1.0     Introduction         –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        1

Chapter
Two

2.0     Pteridophytes-      –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        4

2.2.    Classification
of Pteridophytes-        –        –        –        –        –        –        5

2.3.    General
Characteristics of Pteridophytes-  –        –        –        –        6

2.4.    Occurrence and
Distribution of Pteridophytes-    –        –        –        7

2.5.    Pteridophytes
Life Cycle-        –        –        –        –        –        –        8

2.6.    Phytochemistry
of Pteridophytes-    –        –        –        –        –        10

2.5.1. Alkaloid-    –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        11

2.5.2. Phenols and
Phenolic Glycosides-     –        –        –        –        –        12

2.5.2.1.   Tannins-          –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        12

2.5.2.2.   Flavonoids-     –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        12

2.5.2.3.   Terpenoids
and Steroids-   –        –        –        –        –        –        13

Chapter
Three

3.0.    Economic Importance of Pteridophytes-    –        –        –        –        14

3.1.    Pteridophytes
Used as Medicine-      –        –        –        –        –        14

3.2.    Pteridophytes
Used as Veterinary-    –        –        –        –        –        15

3.3.    Suitability of
Pteridophytes as Food Sources-     –        –        –        16

3.4.    Pteridophytes
Used as Ornamentation-      –        –        –        –        17

3.5.    Pteridophytes as
Building Materials-         –        –        –        –        –        18

3.6.    Pteridophytes in Toxicology-  –        –        –        –        –        –        18

3.7.    Pteridophytes
used for Controlling Insect Pests- –        –        –        19

3.8.    Use of
Pteridophytes as Fertilisers-  –        –        –        –        –        19

3.9.    Pteridophytes
used in Phyto-Remediation- –        –        –        –        20

3.10   Pteridophytes in
Pharmacology-       –        –        –        –        –        20

Chapter
FOUR

4.0.    Conclusion and Recommendations-  –        –        –        –        –        22

4.1.    Conclusion-          –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        22

4.2.    Recommendations-        –        –        –        –        –        –        –        22

          References

SUMMARY

Pteridophytes, including
ferns and fern-allies, are the earliest of all the land plants which originated
during the Silurian period and went on to become the dominant vegetation of
earth’s surface during the Carboniferous period. They became the first ever
group of plants on earth’s surface showing the presence of well-developed
vascular system, thereby, playing an important link in the evolution from
cryptogams (algae and bryophytes) to phanerogams (gymnosperms and angiosperms).
Though they have largely been replaced by seed plants in the course of
evolution, they continue to form an important part of vegetation today and can
be found distributed in a wide range of habitats in the moist tropical and
temperate forests in the world. The pteridophytes being moisture and shade
loving plants congregate at places where humid and damp conditions prevail.
Pteridophytes have been used by different tribal communities and folklore as a
source of food, fibre, craft, decoration material and medicine. Being a group
of lower plants and their restricted distribution, pteridophytes remain
unattended and their useful aspects are largely ignored. This present study
mainly focuses on the Economic importance of Pteridophytes. Their use in
medicine for treatment of external injuries and wounds, use in ornamention,
biofertilizers, food, phyto-remediation.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0     Introduction

Man has been using plants as a source
of food, medicines and many other necessities of life since ancient times. Even
to this day the primitive tribal societies that exist depend on the plant life
in their surroundings. Though there were investigations of the edible economic
values of the higher plants, especially the pteridophytes and angiosperms have
been unfortunately ignored. Pteridophytes existing today represent ancient
plant species which appeared about 300 million years ago in the late Devonian
period (Fernandez et al.,
2011).Pteridophytes including ferns and fern-allies are non-flowering, vascular
and sporebearing plants. They form a conspicuous element of the earth’s
vegetation and are important from evolutionary point of view as they show the
evolution of vascular system and reflect the emergence of seed habit in an the
plants. About 250 million years ago, they formed the dominant part of earth’s
vegetation. But in present day flora, they have been largely replaced by the
seed bearing plants. They grow luxuriantly in moist tropical and temperate
forests and their occurrence in different eco-geographically threatened regions
from sea level to the highest mountains are of much interest (Dixit, 2000).

The ferns and fern allies do not form
a monophyletic group (Smith, et al.
2006) and pteridophyta as a taxonomic group is now regarded as made up of two
classes, Lycopodiophyta (fern allies) and Pteridophyta (true ferns) ( Smith et al. 2006; WCMC, 1992). The
Lycopodiophyta is represented by only five relict genera (Isoetes, Lycopodium,
Phylloglossum, Selaginella and Stilites) (WCMC,1992).The Pteridophyta are much
more diverse than the Lycopodiophyta, showing great range of form and
cosmopolitan in distribution ( WCMC, 1992) Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta is a
small group of about 12000 species (WCMC, 1992; Chapman, 2009), with some
species gathered in the wild for food and medicine, and others cultivated as
food and ornamental plants. The ferns are thought by most people to be quite
useless members of the plant kingdom. The deleterious effects of rapid fern
growth are well publicized, but their useful aspects are largely ignored. Ferns
are distributed in all climate zones of the planet, but have a greater
diversity in the tropics (Smith et al.,
2006; Strasburger et al., 2003).
Ferns show various economic values towards food, fodder indicators,
biofertilizers and insect repellents (Ghosh et
al., 2004). Ferns are used as medicines to cure diseases in various
countries. In China alone, 401 kinds of pteridophytic medicines have been used
for various ailments (Luo 1998).

Sarker et al. (2011) reported the medicinal uses of 30 pteridophytes of
Tamil Nadu. They were used to treat various ailments viz., wound healing, body
sickness, diarrhoea, skin problems, body pain, knee problem, cough, cold,
fever, asthma, kidney problem, tonic, chronic disorders, several aches, hair
growth, stomach problems, ulcer, sore throat, leprosy, ophthalmic, typhoid,
urinary bladder and rheumatism. Khare and Kumar (2007) studied ethnobotany of
five pteridophytes viz., Adiantum
philippense, Diplazium esculentum, Helminthostachys zeylanica, Lygodium
flexuosum and Ophiglossum reticulatum
used by the Tharu tribe of Dudhwa National Park, Lakhimpur-Kheri (U.P). The
information collected by Singh et al.
(2001) reported that 14 common Pteridophytes were used by the local people of
Manipur in various forms. Kirn and Kapathi (2001), observed ethnomedical uses
of 19 pteridophytes of Jammu and Kashmir.

The previous work indicate that the
medicinal plants specially the flowering plants are given the more importance
in these contents, non-flowering plants particularly fern and fern allies are
ignored by scientists. According to Pieroni (2001), evaluation of plant species
used in different cultural contexts is necessary in order to infer cultural
components related to food acceptance and phytochemical constituents that
influence the popularity of edible plants. Plant resources have gained
prominence in sub-Saharan Africa as a natural asset through which communities
derive food, enabling particularly poor families to achieve self-sufficiency.
Documentation of use patterns of pteridophytes across sub-Saharan Africa is of
relevance in understanding the importance of this ancient plant group to
livelihood strategies of different ethnic groups. This is particularly
important for this ancient evolutionary lineage which could potentially become
extinct if harvested non-sustainably.

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