#177 Malaysia...Thanks Nurul!

The two stamps on the right are from 2010 Fern issue.

A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants. Unlike mosses they have xylem and phloem (making them vascular plants). They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants. Ferns do not have either seeds or flowers (they reproduce via spores).

Ferns are not of major economic importance, but some are grown or gathered for food, as ornamental plants, or for remediating contaminated soils. Some are significant weeds. They also feature in mythology, medicine, and art.

The left stamp shows Helminthostachys zeylanica,which is a terrestrial, herbaceous, fern-like plant of southeastern Asia and Australia, commonly known as Kamraj and tunjuk-langit.

The roots of this plant are a popular medicine in China, where they are known as "Di wu gong". The roots are harvested during the wet season in July-August. Only wild plants are harvested. In Malaysia, the leaves are dried and smoked to treat bleeding nose.

The right stamp shows Stenochlaena palustris,which is eaten as a popular vegetable, similar to fiddlehead ferns, in Sarawak, where it is usually flavored with shrimp paste. You can found this edible fern also in Indonesia, especially in Kalimantan provinces like as in Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan. They called this vegetable is "kalakai".Indigenous people in that places believe these vegetables good for health especially for source of Fe, and medicine for skin disease, malaria disease, fever, and ageless.