Singla et al. Bulletin of the National Research Centre (2022) 46:133 https://doi.org/10.1186/s42269-022-00822-z REVIEW Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Todaro (fddlehead fern): an updated review Shivali Singla 1* , Rupali Rana 2 , Surendar Kumar 3 , Reena Thakur 1 and Sachin Goyal 4 Abstract Background: Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Todaro is a popular edible wild fern found in the subtropical Himalayas. It is widely used in folk medicine to treat several ailments and known for its antioxidant, anti-infammatory, antibacterial, antiviral and antidiabetic activities. Due to its multidimensional nutritional, pharmacological and therapeutic efects, it is well recognized in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia. Main body of abstract: The present review aims to provide updated information on Matteuccia struthiopteris botany, phytochemistry, pharmacological efects and toxicity methods, in addition to highlight potential for future explora- tion. Particular emphasis is also given to its antioxidant potential in health promotion. In-depth literature was probed by examining numerous sources via online databases (research and reviews), texts, Web sites and thesis. Plant bio- technology approaches such as tissue culture and micropropagation are also discussed. Short conclusion: Matteuccia struthiopteris is found useful in the treatment of diferent diseases such as microbial infection, viral infection and diabetes and in weight reduction and also efective as antioxidant and free radical scav- enger. Nevertheless, advance studies are required to ofer the mechanistic role of crude extracts and its bio-actives and even to discover the structure–function relationship of active principles. Keywords: Matteuccia struthiopteris, Fiddlehead fern, Ostrich fern, Antioxidant, Chemical constituents © The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Background Ayurvedic medicines support the medicinal plants to treat various diseases in the traditional Indian system of Ayurveda (Sato et al. 1997). According to WHO, tra- ditional medicine is the sum of the total skill, practices, knowledge, beliefs and experiences to diferent cultures, used in the maintenance of the health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness (World Health Organization (WHO) 2013). Herbal medicines are the oldest rem- edies known to mankind and been used by all cultures throughout the history, but India has one of the oldest, richest and most diverse cultural living traditions asso- ciated with the use of medicinal plants (Kamboj 2012). Herbal drug technology is used for converting botani- cal materials into medicines, where standardization and quality control with proper integration of modern scien- tifc techniques and traditional knowledge is important (Spainhour 2010). Herbals are traditionally considered harmless and increasingly being consumed by people without prescription (Gokhale et al. 2007). Ferns are comprised of almost 12,000 species (PPG I 2016) and have been known as edible medicinal plants for periods, especially in Canada, China, India and other Asian countries. Taxonomically, these vascular plants belong to pteridophytes that diffuse via spores (Kimura et al. 2004; Smith et al. 2006). When human was dependent on wild plants as primary food source, the habit of eating ferns is as old as at that time. Edible ferns are stated in Chinese writings as before as 3000 years ago (Liu et al. 2012). In spite of the fact that wild plants are no longer harvested as much as they were in ancient times, fern harvesting and eating has Open Access Bulletin of the National Research Centre *Correspondence: singlashivali@gmail.com 1 Department of Pharmaceutics, Himalayan Institute of Pharmacy, Himalayan Group of Professional Institutions, Kala-Amb, H.P. 173030, India Full list of author information is available at the end of the article