The Bracken 



it was originally a fern of the woods, where it may still 

 be found in abundance, but it is now quite as much at 

 home in the most exposed situations. Because of its 

 wide distribution and abundance, the Bracken has never 

 received that share of admiration to which its beauty 

 and elegance of form entitle it. Indeed, it is too 

 often contemptuously passed over by the ignorant as 

 unworthy to be ranked as a true fern. 



The Bracken belongs to the genus Pteris, which is 

 characterised by the linear sori arranged in a con- 

 tinuous line all round the margin of the frond, the 

 recurved edges of which conceal the thin, dry indusia. 

 It is the only British fern of this genus. 



The underground rootstock of the Bracken is thick, 

 and, in old specimens, of great length. The stout leaf- 

 stalks, dark towards the base, are often 3 or 4 feet in 

 height, and are furnished with rather sharp edges. In 

 badly-grown or stunted specimens the fronds appear to 

 be three-branched, but in well-developed forms they 

 are seen to be thrice or even four times pinnate. At 

 the very tip of the frond the pinnae are entire, a little 

 lower they are pinnatifid, towards the middle they 

 themselves are pinnate with pinnatifid pinnules, while 

 the lowest pinnae of all may be twice or thrice pinnate, 

 with the ultimate frond - segments pinnatifid and 

 stalkless. 



Many and varied were the uses to which the Bracken 

 was formerly put. Apart from its medicinal virtues, it 

 was specially valued because of the alkali contained in 

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