Rhizoma filicis

The dried rootstock of the worm fern, collected in the fall, stripped of its roots, unpeeled and uncut.

Commission E: not processed

ESCOP: not processed

HMPC: not processed

Empirical medicine: used against worms, especially tapeworms, hookworm.

Obsolete today due to its limited therapeutic range.

Aspidinol, filicic acid butanone, albaspidin, floraspidinol, filix acid, filix tannins and other butanophloroglucides, fatty and essential oil, bitter substances, oil, starch, mucilage.

An essential root extract with 25% filixic acid (DAB 6) is used as a vermifuge.

Malaise, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, in case of overdose symptoms of poisoning: dizziness, headache, drowsiness, convulsions, rarely psychosis.

Visual disturbances possibly leading to blindness, cardiovascular, liver and kidney damage. Death due to respiratory paralysis also possible, lethal dose of extract: from 10 g.

1. https://www.awl.ch/heilpflanzen/dryopteris_filix_mas/wurmfarn.htm
2. https://heilkraeuter.de/lexikon/farn.htm
3. http://www.pharmakobotanik.de/systematik/6_droge/filici-r.htm