Vegetable fern facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Vegetable fern
Scientific classification
Genus:	Diplazium
Species:	esculentum
Synonyms
Athyrium esculentum

The vegetable fern (also known as Diplazium esculentum) is a type of fern that people can eat. You can find it growing in many parts of Asia and Oceania. It's probably the most popular fern to eat in the world! This fern belongs to a group of plants called Diplazium.

What Does the Vegetable Fern Look Like?

The vegetable fern is a big plant that lives for many years. It grows from an underground stem called a rhizome. This stem can stand about 50 centimeters (20 inches) tall. It has small, reddish-brown scales, only about 1 millimeter long.

The fern has long, brownish stems called petioles. These stems hold up the leaves. The bottom part of the petiole is black and also has small scales. The entire leaf, called a frond, can grow up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) long! Each smaller leaf part, called a pinna, is about 8 centimeters (3 inches) long and 2 centimeters (0.8 inches) wide.

How Do People Use Vegetable Ferns?

People often eat the young, curled leaves of the vegetable fern. They are very tasty! You can stir-fry them or add them to fresh salads.

This fern has many different names around the world:

• In the Philippines, it's called pakô, which means "wing."
• In Malaysia, people call it pucuk paku or paku tanjung.
• In Indonesia, it's known as sayur paku or pakis.
• In Assam, India, it's called dhekia.
• In Bengali, it's Dhenki Shaak.
• In Sylheti, it's paloi saag.
• In Nepali, it's ningro.
• In Boro, it's dingkia.
• In northern India, it's called linguda.
• In Thailand, it's known as phak koot (Thai: ผักกูด).

Even though ferns might have small amounts of natural plant chemicals, eating vegetable fern has not caused any major problems.

Gallery

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  Yam phak khut, a Thai salad of fern leaves and pork

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  Ensaladang pako (fern salad) at Larry Cruz's Abe Restaurant, in Manila

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  Habitat

See also

In Spanish: Diplazium esculentum para niños