It has been of general opinion that the living Pteridophytes/ferns have little economic potential. The limited uses are often enumerated by authors from time to time. A large number of ferns are highly prized as foliage ornamentals whether outdoors or indoors besides several other ecomomic values.

Antimicrobial propertits of ferns are remarkable as compared to the higher plants. Very little informations are available where ferns have been infected or attacked by any micro-organism. Pageopined that these resistance may arise due to the possession of a combination of any of atleast five different attributes as mentioned below :

(1)     Their possible lack of some essential metabolites necessary for pathogens
The presence in ferns of a large number of defensive biochemical compounds.
A difficulty encountered by pathogens in invading the tough tissues of ferns
The particular morphological structure of the average fern plant, where a disease which may become rife in a frond is lost altogether from the plant when the frond is shed and,
The absence of vessels, presence of mucilage and infrequency of canals in fern vascular structure, which may be of significance in reducing the ability of diseases to spread rapidly internally within a plant.

Horborne reported high percentage of phenolic compounds in the ferns which are responsible for not allowing microorganisms to attack them. Gregor and Pirone reported several diseases of cultivated fern species such as leaf-spot, tip-blight, leaf-blister, sooty-mold, leaf-blotch. Several confusing symptoms of fungi have been noticed by the present author on the” fern which are under culitvation of fernery of NBRI, Lucknow but after analysis it has been noticed that they are due to some deficiency of nutrients, i.e., physiological rather than pathogenic. On the whole, experiences of fern growers suggests that such antiseptis or antimicrobial abilities are quite general.

It has also been observed by the present author that in vitro presence of fungi or bacteria in the cultures makes no difference in the germination, growth and differentiation of gametophyte of ferns. This type of observations are also reported by several previous workers like Hurel-Py; and Hutchinson. Pares, even observed stimulatory effects of various micro-organisms on the development of prothalli of several species of ferns. Bell and Smith & Robinson also noticed stimulatory effect of microorganism on general growth rate of gametophytes in ferns like Thelypteris paulustris Scott., Polystichum lobatum (Huds.) Woynar, Dryopteris filix-mas (L.) Schott. and Polypodium vulgare L.
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Ferns are a natural group of plants in a major division of the plant kingdom called the Pteridophytes. Pteridophytes have been a prominent part of the earth’s vegetation for millions of years. In fact, in eon’s past, the Pteridophytes and their allies dominated the world’s vegetation and contributed much to the fossil fuel reserves will always be important and significant in energy conscious world. To-day only a small number of the representatives of the primitive stock has survived. Pteridophytes are classified in two groups, i.e., homosporous and heterosporous on the basis of spore types. Homosporous ferns are represented by about 1 2000 species widely distributed throughout the world in different habitat and niches. In India, about 1200 fern species including fern allies have been reported.

Ferns are basically vascular plant and preferes shady, moist habitat with moderate temperature but also occurs throughout a very diverse range of habitat from high altitude and latitude to arctic-alpine situations, to the heart of the tropical rain forests, and from sub-desert scrub of continental interiors to rock of the sea coast and mangroove swamp.
The life cycle of fern consists of two phases’, i.e. haploid, non-vascular gametophytic and diploid vascular sporophytic; both phase are autotrophic, morphologically very distinct and physiologically independent to each others. Majority of the ferns inhabit the tropical forests and in its environment microbial activities are maximum and this environment situation, no matter how beneficial for one, is unsuitable for the other generation, but even both the generations have to persist for their survival. It is definitely a peculiar characteristics of the ferns to have antimicrobial activities which help them to survive. In the present communication antimicrobial activity and medicinal values of ferns have been discussed.
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