i8o 



THE BRACKEN AS A MIMETIC FERN. 



By C. B. Green. 



The BrackeUf as everyone knows, is of universal distribu- 

 tion. And yet, perhaps, I ought to qualify this statement, 

 for there are country folk so obtuse that they cannot 

 distinguish between Cryptogams and other vegetation. I 

 have even heard on more than one occasion that " the 

 Bracken is no fern " ! and when the query of '* What is it 

 then " ? has been put, the reply has come back, " Oh ! it 

 is just the common Bracken." 



Hov/ever, there are others, no doubt, to whom this fern 

 occasionally and casually gives a little trouble ; for, on 

 account of its wide range and multifarious habitats, and 

 its general tendency to variation, it sometimes apes other 

 members of the fern community. 



Naturally it dominates heath-lands, commons, waste 

 places, open woods, hill sides, etc., when it is known as 

 the Bracken Association ; but, in addition to what may be 

 called its normal areas, it often obtrudes on hedge banks, 

 road sides, sea cliffs, rocky shores, and even walls and 

 roofs of old stone buildings. In fact, I have in mind a fine 

 clump growing in the latter situation. 



However, the object of this note is not so much to 

 appraise the variability of this fern, although in congested 

 specimens it is often no more than lo inches high, whereas 

 in more favourable positions it sometimes elongates to 

 lo feet, as to call attention to its mimetic aspects. 



I doubt not others have, when on fern hunting forays, 

 occasionally experienced some chagrin when a stray 

 frond, or part of a frond, or pinnae, in the hedge-row, has 

 resembled some other fern, or rather a presumed variety of 

 some other fern. 



When, however, this fern towers above the surrounding 

 vegetation it cannot be mistaken, and in that condition it 

 is often not inaptly called the " one-stemmed " fern. But 

 when through congestion, unsuitable site, or other causes, 



