DESCRIPTIVE LIST AND MEANS OF CONTROL 



COMMON BRAKE, OR BRACKEN 



Pteris aquilina, L. 



Other English names: Eagle Fern, Upland Fern, Turkey-foot Brake. 

 Native. Perennial. Propagates by spores and by rootstocks. 

 Season of leaf -production : Early spring until autumn frosts. 

 Fruiting fronds : Ripe in August. 

 Range: Throughout the world. In this country most troublesome 



on the Pacific Coast. 

 Habitat : Upland fields and pastures, open woods, and thickets. 



Every one knows the Bracken 

 under some name, for it is the 

 most widely distributed of all 

 the ferns and its distinctive, 

 very large dull green, three- 

 parted fronds are like no other. 

 Most members of the Fern 

 Family demand shade and mois- 

 ture, but this one is not so par- 

 ticular. It varies much in 

 size. In the Eastern States it 

 is usually one to three feet tall, 

 but on the Pacific Coast it 

 grows six to eight feet, and on 

 the moors and mountains of 

 Scotland the horns of the 

 "stately stag" are barely to be 

 seen above it. (Fig. 1.) 



Its creeping rootstock is 

 black, somewhat less than a 

 half-inch in diameter, often 

 twenty feet or more long, and 

 penetrates the soil deeply. All 



c 17 



FIG. 1. Common Brake or Bracken 

 (Pteris aquilina). X |. One branch 

 of three-parted frond. 



