Pteridium esculentum

Bracken or Common Bracken

Family:            Dennstaedtiaceae

Plant:                   A fern up to 1m high.

Fronds:              Dark green, erect, tough, stiff, 3-4 pinnate fronds up to 1m long with recurved margins, glossy above, pale and hairy on underside. The ultimate segments are narrow with some also being lobed. The stalks are red-brown.

Sori:                Fairly inconspicuous but in a more or less continuous band beneath the recurved segment margins.

Rhizome:      Long, creeping, much-branched, woody and covered with dark red-brown hairs.

Habitat:           Widespread in dry sclerophyll forest and heathland.

Features:       Tough erect fronds. Fine hairs on underside of fronds. Small lobe where each frond segment joins the stalk. Sori on edge of segments.

Name:

Pteridium       From Greek = little-wing.

esculentum    From Latin esculentus = edible.

Search Criteria

 

Type

Fern

Trunk

No trunk

Fronds

Form

Compound

 

Length (Total)

Long

 

Other Features

Glossy, Hard

Sori

Arrangement

In rows, Near margins

Rhizome

Type

Creeping

 

Other Features

Scaly

Habitat

Dry sclerophyll forest, Heathland