Matteuccia Explained

Matteuccia is a genus of ferns with one species: Matteuccia struthiopteris (common names ostrich fern, fiddlehead fern, or shuttlecock fern).[1] The species epithet struthiopteris comes from Ancient Greek words Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: στρουθίων "ostrich" and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πτερίς "fern".

Description

The fronds are dimorphic, with the deciduous green sterile fronds being almost vertical, 100– tall and 20– broad, long-tapering to the base but short-tapering to the tip, so that they resemble ostrich plumes, hence the name.[2] The fertile fronds are shorter, 40– long, brown when ripe, with highly modified and constricted leaf tissue curled over the sporangia; they develop in autumn, persist erect over the winter and release the spores in early spring. Along with Dryopteris goldieana, it is one of the largest species of fern in eastern North America.

Classification

Matteuccia struthiopteris is the only species in the genus Matteuccia. Some sources include two Asian species, M. orientalis and M. intermedia, but molecular data shows that M. struthiopteris is more closely related to Onocleopsis and Onoclea (sensitive fern) than it is to M. orientalis and M. intermedia, and so the latter should be moved to a genus Pentarhizidium which contains those two species.[3] Formerly classified as a member of the Dryopteridaceae, Matteuccia has been reassigned to the new much smaller family Onocleaceae.

Distribution

It is a crown-forming, colony-forming plant, occurring in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in central and northern Europe,[4] northern Asia, and northern North America. It grows from a completely vertical crown, favoring riverbanks and sandbars, but sends out lateral stolons to form new crowns. It can thus form dense colonies resistant to destruction by floodwaters.

Cultivation and uses

The ostrich fern is a popular ornamental plant in gardens. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[5] [6] While choosing a place of planting it should be taken into account that this fern is very expansive and its leaves often lose their beauty throughout the summer, especially if not protected from wind and hail.

The tightly wound immature fronds, called fiddleheads, are also used as a cooked vegetable,[7] and are considered a delicacy mainly in rural areas of northeastern North America.[8] It is considered inadvisable to eat uncooked fiddleheads. [9] Brown "scales" are inedible and should be scraped or rinsed off.[10]

The sprouts are also picked all over Japan, ("kogomi" in Japanese)[11] as well as in other Asian regions,[12] where they are considered a delicacy.

Additionally, in Norway, fiddleheads were apparently used in the manufacture of beer, and in Russia, in the control of gut parasites.[8]

Matteuccia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Sthenopis pretiosus.

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Tod.. Interglot translation dictionary. Interglot. Netherlands. 11 June 2024. Matteuccia struthiopteris: Onoclea struthiopteris; Pteretis struthiopteris; fiddlehead; ostrich fern; shuttlecock fern; Matteuccia struthiopteris.
  2. Web site: Matteuccia struthiopteris. Missouri Botanical Garden. 28 May 2023. The showy parts of this fern are the finely dissected, medium green, vegetative (sterile) fronds which, as the common name suggests, exhibit the feathery appearance of long ostrich plumes..
  3. 10.2307/2445820 . Molecular systematics and a revised taxonomy of the onocleoid ferns (Dryopteridaceae: Onocleeae) . GJ . Gastony . MC . Ungerer . American Journal of Botany . 84 . 6 . 840–849 . 1997 . 21708636 . 2445820 .
  4. http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/index1.php?scientific-name=matteuccia+struthiopteris Altervista Flora Italiana, Felce penna di struzzo, Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Tod.
  5. Web site: RHS Plant Selector - Matteuccia struthiopteris . 21 September 2022.
  6. Web site: AGM Plants - Ornamental . April 2023 . 75 . . 28 May 2023.
  7. Web site: Bulletin #4198, Facts on Fiddleheads - Cooperative Extension Publications - University of Maine Cooperative Extension . 2021-01-02 . Cooperative Extension Publications . en-US.
  8. Web site: Plant 78 - Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Todaro (Onocleaceae) - Ostrich fern. Harris. Stephen. Biology. Oxford Plants 400. University of Oxford. 11 June 2024. In Norway, the fern was apparently used to make beer, whilst in Russia it controlled gut parasites. Today, ostrich fern fiddleheads remain an important element of the rural economy of the American state of Maine; the rituals of harvest and consumption being seen as culturally important in the state..
  9. Dhir. S Bryn. June 2020. Fiddlehead Fern Poisoning: A Case Report. Wilderness & Environmental Medicine. Austin, Texas, USA. Sage Publishing. June 2020. 31. 2. 226 - 229. 10.1016/j.wem.2019.12.011. free. 1080-6032. 11 June 2024. Outdoor enthusiasts are at a high risk of poisonous side effects after ingestion of wild and raw edible fiddlehead ferns, such as the ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) and bracken (Pteridium genus) species, in the United States and Canada..
  10. Book: Elias . Thomas S. . Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods . Dykeman . Peter A. . . 2009 . 978-1-4027-6715-9 . New York . 58 . 244766414 . 1982.
  11. News: LaPointe . Rick . Let us go fiddlehead foragin', but carefully . The Japan Times . Tokyo . 21 April 2002 . 13 March 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110320233942/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fg20020421rl.html . 20 March 2011 .
  12. 25973486 . 2015 . Dion . C . Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory and antioxidative potential of four fern species from China intended for use as food supplements . Natural Product Communications . 10 . 4 . 597–603 . Haug . C . Guan . H . Ripoll . C . Spiteller . P . Coussaert . A . Boulet . E . Schmidt . D . Wei . J . Zhou . Y . Lamottke . K . 10.1177/1934578X1501000416 . 8419285 . free .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Matteuccia".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.