Japanese Felt Fern

Primarily produced in eastern, central and northeastern China.

Pyrrosia sheareri (Bak.) Ching: Leaf is slightly wrinkled, lanceolate shape after being flattened, 10~25cm long, 3~5cm wide. Apex is gradually pointed, base is ear-like and sloped, entire, edge often rolled inward; upper surface is yellowish-green or grayish-green, scattered black round small indented spots; lower surface has dense reddish-brown star-like hairs, sometimes has an interval of side veins with many brown round spotted spores. Leaf stem has 4 ridges, 10~20cm long, 1.5~3mm diameter, slightly curved, with longitudinal grooves. Leaf is leathery. faint odor, slightly astringent and bitter taste. Pyrrosia lingua (Thunb.) Farwell: Lanceolate or elliptical-lanceolate shape, 8~12cm long, 1~3cm wide, base is wedge-like shape, symmetrical. Spores are between the veins, arranged densely and even. Leaf stem is 5~10cm long, about 1.5mm diameter. Pyrrosia petiolosa (Christ) Ching: Often rolled in tubes, elliptical or oval-elliptical shape after flattened, 3~8cm long, 1~2.5cm wide, base is wedge-like and symmetrical. Lower surface side vein is indistinct, densely covered in spores. Leaf stem is 3~12cm long, about 1mm diameter.

Superior medicinal material has intact leaf, thick and large, red back side with small spots.

Sweet, bitter, slightly cold.

Promotes urination, frees strangury, clears heat, stops bleeding. Apply to pyretic stranguria, bloody stranguria, stranguria caused by urinary stone, difficulty in micturition, dripping and pain in micturition induced by pyretic stranguria, hematemesis, non-traumatic hemorrhage, hematuria, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, dyspnea and cough due to lung-heat.

‘Red star spots’: this refers to red spore saca seen on the posterior surface of fern leaves.