n. 1. a place in which bacteria have settled and multiplied because of particularly suitable conditions: a focus of infection. 2. the nucleus of a crystal.
Habitat: Kashmir at 1500-2000 m and extending to Dalhousie and Chamba in Himachal Pradesh.
English: Black Spleenwort.Folk: Krishna fern.
Action: Fond—expectorant, pectoral, emmenagogue. Rhizome— anthelmintic. Plant—bitter, diuretic, laxative, anti-inflammatory. It is used for diseases of spleen and in jaundice; produces sterility in women.
The fonds contain aliphatic hydrocarbons, the chief one being hentri- acontane, non-acosane and triterpe- noid hydrocarbons, mainly of 22 (29)- hopene.Alcohols, sterols and fatty acids are also reported.Related sp. include: A. laciniatum D. Don (vitamin K3 and phthiocol have been isolated for the first time from the plant); A. adiantoides (L.) C. Chr., synonym A. falcatum Lam. (used in the treatment of enlarged spleen, in in- contenence of urine, in calculus, jaundice and malaria); A. nidus Linn. synonym Thamnopteris nidus (L.) C. Presl., known as Bird's Nest Fern (used as a depurative and sedative).... asplenium adiantum-nigrum
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