Editing Fern (section)

== Uses ==

Ferns are not as important economically as seed plants, but have considerable importance in some societies. Some ferns are used for food, including the fiddleheads of ''Pteridium aquilinum'' ([[bracken]]), ''Matteuccia struthiopteris'' ([[ostrich fern]]), and ''Osmundastrum cinnamomeum'' ([[cinnamon fern]]). ''[[Diplazium esculentum]]'' is also used in the tropics (for example in ''budu pakis'', a traditional dish of [[Brunei]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Indigenous Fermented Foods of Southeast Asia|year=2015}}</ref>) as food. Tubers from the "para", ''[[Ptisana salicina]]'' (king fern) are a traditional food in [[New Zealand]] and the [[Oceania|South Pacific]]. Fern tubers were used for food 30,000 years ago in Europe.<ref>Van Gilder Cooke, Sonia (23 October 2010). [https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19597-stone-age-humans-liked-their-burgers-in-a-bun.html "Stone Age humans liked their burgers in a bun".] ''[[New Scientist]]'', p. 18.</ref><ref>Revedin, Anna et al. (18 October 2010). [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1006993107 "Thirty thousand-year-old evidence of plant food processing".] ''[[PNAS]]''.</ref> Fern tubers were used by the [[Guanches]] to make [[gofio]] in the [[Canary Islands]]. Ferns are generally not known to be poisonous to humans.<ref name="edible plant">{{cite book | title=The Official Pocket Edible Plant Survival Manual | publisher=Freedom and Liberty Foundation Press | last=Pelton |first=Robert | year=2011 | page=25 | id=[[Barnes & Noble|BNID]] [http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/?ean=2940013382145 2940013382145]}}</ref> [[Licorice fern]] [[rhizome]]s were chewed by the natives of the [[Pacific Northwest]] for their flavor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moerman |first=Daniel E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iYhjlKR7GZEC |title=Native American Food Plants: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary |date=2010-10-27 |publisher=Timber Press |isbn=978-1-60469-189-4 |pages=190 |language=en}}</ref> Some species of ferns are [[carcinogenic]], and the British Royal Horticultural Society has advised not to consume any species for health reasons of both humans and livestock.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dol Sot Bibimbap|url=http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=445|access-date=2011-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111190952/http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=445|archive-date=2011-11-11|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Ferns of the genus ''Azolla'', commonly known as water fern or mosquito ferns are very small, floating plants that do not resemble ferns. The mosquito ferns are used as a biological fertilizer in the rice paddies of southeast Asia, taking advantage of their ability to [[nitrogen fixation|fix nitrogen]] from the air into compounds that can then be used by other plants.

Ferns have proved resistant to phytophagous insects. The gene that express the protein Tma12 in an edible fern, ''[[Tectaria macrodonta]]'', has been transferred to cotton plants, which became resistant to [[whitefly]] infestations.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Expression of an insecticidal fern protein in cotton protects against whitefly|first1=Anoop Kumar|last1=Shukla|first2=Santosh Kumar|last2=Upadhyay|first3=Manisha|last3=Mishra |first4=Sharad|last4=Saurabh|first5=Rahul |last5=Singh|first6=Harpal|last6=Singh|first7=Nidhi|last7=Thakur|first8=Preeti|last8=Rai|first9=Paras|last9=Pandey|first10=Aradhana L.|last10=Hans|first11=Subhi|last11=Srivastava |first12=Vikram|last12=Rajapure |first13=Sunil Kumar|last13=Yadav |first14=Mithlesh Kumar |last14=Singh |first15=Jitendra |last15=Kumar|first16=K.|last16=Chandrashekar |first17=Praveen C. |last17=Verma |first18=Ajit Pratap|last18=Singh|first19=K. N.|last19=Nair|first20=Smrati|last20=Bhadauria |first21=Muhammad |last21=Wahajuddin |first22=Sarika|last22=Singh|first23=Sharad |last23=Sharma|first24=null|last24=Omkar |first25=Ram Sanmukh |last25=Upadhyay|first26=Shirish A. |last26=Ranade|first27=Rakesh|last27=Tuli|first28=Pradhyumna Kumar|last28=Singh |display-authors=3 |date=26 October 2016 |journal=Nature Biotechnology |volume=34 |issue=10 |pages=1046–1051 |doi=10.1038/nbt.3665 |pmid=27598229 |s2cid=384923}}</ref>

Many ferns are grown in [[horticulture]] as landscape plants, for [[foliage|cut foliage]] and as [[houseplant]]s, especially the Boston fern (''[[Nephrolepis exaltata]]'') and other members of the genus ''[[Nephrolepis]]''. The [[Asplenium nidus|bird's nest fern]] (''Asplenium nidus'') is also popular, as are the [[staghorn fern]]s (genus ''Platycerium''). Perennial (also known as hardy) ferns planted in gardens in the northern hemisphere also have a considerable following.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ferns: A Classic Shade Garden Plant |url=https://extension.sdstate.edu/ferns-classic-shade-garden-plant |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=extension.sdstate.edu}}</ref>

Several ferns, such as bracken<ref name=CABIPteridium>{{cite web|date=2018 |title=Datasheet: ''Pteridium aquilinum'' (bracken) |url=https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/45596 |publisher=CAB International |access-date=11 February 2019 }}</ref> and ''Azolla''<ref name=CABIAzolla>{{cite web|date=2018 |title=Datasheet: ''Azolla filiculoides'' (water fern) |url=https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/8119 |publisher=CAB International |access-date=11 February 2019 }}</ref> species are noxious [[weed]]s or [[invasive species]]. Further examples include Japanese climbing fern (''[[Lygodium japonicum]]''), [[sensitive fern]] (''Onoclea sensibilis'') and Giant water fern (''[[Salvinia molesta]]''), one of the world's worst aquatic weeds.<ref>{{Cite web |title={{!}} Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants {{!}} University of Florida, IFAS |url=https://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-directory/salvinia-molesta/ |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=plants.ifas.ufl.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Moran|first=Robbin|title=A Natural History of Ferns|year=2004|publisher=Timber Press |isbn=0-88192-667-1}}</ref> The important fossil fuel [[coal]] consists of the remains of primitive plants, including ferns.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fossils, Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky |url=https://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/fossil-pennsylvanianPlants.php |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=www.uky.edu}}</ref>