CHAPTER V 



THE BRACKEN FERN AND TWO 

 INTERESTING SPECIES 



MANY members of the Fern tribe are of 

 a retiring disposition, and to find them 

 we must search in out-of-the-way corners. 

 This cannot be said, however, of the leading 

 subject under discussion in this chapter, for of 

 all native ferns there is certainly none with a 

 wider distribution than the Bracken. As one 

 of the few ferns not needing a moist situation, 

 the Bracken is able to make itself at home 

 almost anywhere, save perhaps in the vicinity 

 of large manufacturing towns. The sub-family 

 Pteridese to which the Bracken belongs has not 

 a large number of representatives in the United 

 Kingdom. In the Ribbon Ferns and the 

 Maidenhairs of our greenhouses we have 

 evidence that, as far as the world at large is 

 concerned, the Pterideae are very numerous. 



Pteris aquilina. The generic name is derived 

 from the Greek word pteron, " a wing/' and the 

 specific name comes from the Latin aquila, 

 " an eagle." The Bracken Fern. 



The height and general outline of the Bracken 

 Fern varies enormously. On exposed hillsides 

 the plant may be barely a foot in height, with 

 leaves correspondingly small. In the sheltered 

 wood it is not an uncommon thing to discover 

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