THE COMMON "BRAKE." 65 



studied. It may therefore be taken both as a representative fern 

 and as a representative plant. 



Habitat, Name, etc. The brake occurs widely distributed in 

 the United States, under a great variety of conditions ; e.g., in 

 loose pine-groves, especially in sandy regions ; in open woodlands 

 amongst the other undergrowth ; on hillside pastures and in 

 thickets indeed almost everywhere, except in very wet or very 

 dry places. It appears to be equally common elsewhere ; for, 

 according to Sir W. J. Hooker, Pteris aquilina grows "all round 

 the world, both within the tropics and in the north and south 



temperate zones In Lapland it just passes within the 



Arctic circle, ascending in Scotland to 2000 feet, in the Cameroon 

 Mountains to 7000 feet, in Abyssinia to 8000 feet or 9000 feet, in 

 the Himalayas to about 8000 feet."- -(Synopsis Fllicum.) 



" Pteris (Trrepz?, the common Greek name forferri), signify- 

 ing wing or feather, well accords with the appearance of Pteris 

 aquilina , the most common and most generally distributed of 

 European ferns. It is possible that this fern may rank as the 

 most universally distributed of all vegetable productions, extend- 

 ing its dominion from west to east over both continents and 

 islands in a zone reaching from Northern Europe and Siberia to 

 ISTew Zealand, where it is represented by, and perhaps identical 

 with, the well-known Pteris esculenta. The rhizome of our 

 plant like that of the latter is edible, and though not employed in 

 Great Britain as food, powdered and mixed with a small quantity 

 of barley-meal it is made into a kind of gruel called gojio, in use 

 among the poorer inhabitants of the Canary Islands."- (Sowerby.) 



The specific name aquilina (aquila, eagle) and a popular name, 

 " eagle-fern," in Germany, etc., have come from a fanciful like- 

 ness of the dark tissue seen in a transverse section of the leaf- 

 stalk, to the figure of an outspread eagle. The same figure has, 

 however, been compared to an oak-tree, and has also given rise to 

 the name of " devil's-foot fern," from its alleged resemblance to 

 " the impression of the deil's foot," etc., etc. 



The popular designation of this plant as " the brake" testifies 

 to its great abundance ; for a brake is a dense thicket or under- 

 growth as for example a cane " brake." 



"When 'fully grown (Fig. 31) the common brake has a leafy 

 top supported by a polished, dark-colored, erect stem, which in 

 New England rises to a height of from one to four feet above 

 5 



