BRACKEN. 27 



small colony of Bracken, when the costume will be changed to 

 a rusty hue by the spores it has gathered in passing. The 

 Bracken is a social fern, uniting to form very extensive colonies, 

 and it is very rarely that one meets with a single plant. For this 

 reason it is a difficult matter to find a well-developed frond to 

 photograph, the majority of fronds having their pinnae entangled 

 with those of their neighbours on either side (Plate 19). 



It may be remarked that among the botanists before the days 

 of Linnaeus the Bracken was known as the Female Fern {Filix 

 fcemina). The bundles of woody tissue are so well-marked a 

 feature of this fern that if the subterranean stem or the stipes 

 be cut across, they will be found occupying a central position. 

 Their darker colour and constant outline have attracted atten- 

 tion among the rustic folk who have always been on the look- 

 out for fortuitous likenesses or " signatures," which may give 

 them some sort of raison d'etre for natural things. Some will 

 tell you that the figure is that of a double-headed or spread- 

 eagle, and this idea appears to have appealed to the early 

 botanists, for it has been crystallized in the specific name. 

 Others, who look back with regret to the days of the virtuous 

 Stuarts, will tell you that it represents Charles II. hiding in the 

 oak-tree, and that it has been placed there as a perennial 

 reproach to the Bracken, which failed to seclude Monmouth 

 when hiding among its fronds after Sedgemoor. Another 

 school of rural thought regards this mark as a miniature 

 representation of the devil's hoof; but we are not sure what 

 significance attaches to this "signature." Still another in- 

 terpretation is that it is a monogram of the letters J. C. In 

 some parts of Sussex they get all sorts of initials out of these 

 marks, and use them for divining the name of future husband 

 or wife, whose initials are thus revealed. 



The distribution of the Bracken is general throughout the 

 country, and it is to be found in every one of the 112 provinces 

 into which the British Islands have been divided for botanical 



