Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn

Bracken, bracken fern, western brackenfern, pasture brake

Common bracken was originally native to Eurasia and North America, but it is now found pretty much worldwide, in climates ranging from temperate to subtropical.

Identification: This is a deciduous perennial, 12–39″ (30–100 cm) in size. The main stem, called a stipe in the fern world, is up to ⅜″ (1 cm) in size, and covered in short hairs. The root system is quite remarkable, reaching lengths of up to 49′ (15 m) and depths of up to 11′ (3.5 m). The spreading rhizomes form dense colonies that are genetically identical. Not clones, rather additional growths from the same plant. Colonies can reach 650 years in age. Although these ferns are quickly killed by frost in the fall, the large root systems ensure a quick recovery in the spring.

Whorls of three fronds are compound leaves 8–31″ (20–80 cm) long, divided into leaflets, which are further divided, and yet again. The fronds tend to be oriented to catch as much light as possible in the filtered sunlight of forest understories. Spore-bearing fronds look about the same as sterile fronds. In the spring, emerging plants, called fiddleheads, are brown, covered with silvery hairs.

Habitats: Sandy to peaty acidic soils—dry wood­lands, fields, thickets, areas of disturbed soils, and marshes. It is an early colonizer after fires.

Edibility: Poisonous. The fiddleheads (newly emerging plants, curled up like fiddleheads) can cause weakness, high fever, loss of coordination, and convulsions. Though not severely poisonous, this is worth noting because the fiddleheads from some other fern species are edible.

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Pteridium aquilinum description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.

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