The spotted fern is also known as the angel's sweet because of its sweet-tasting root. It is a winter-green fern plant. Ferns do not reproduce with seeds, but with spores, so they do not have flowers. Fern plants were already found in huge forests around 300 million years ago. Today, these tree ferns can still be found in the tropics, otherwise ferns are leafy plants. The spores are located on the underside of the leaves.
The dried rhizome, Polypodii rhizoma, is used phytotherapeutically