;2 THE BRACKEN. 



The fronds are produced all summer, rising from the 

 rootstock at intervals of from six inches to six feet. 

 They are triangular in outline and ternately divided ; 

 that is, the lowest pair of pinnae are so much larger than 

 the rest, that the frond appears as if made up of three 

 nearly equal divisions. Counting these lowest divisions 

 as pinnae, the frond is three times pinnate below and 

 passes by every gradation upward to the pinnate apex. 

 In very large specimens the basal pinnules on the lower 

 pinnae are again lobed or parted, making this part of the 

 frond nearly quadripinnate. The pinnules are narrow, 

 two or three times longer than broad and set fairly close 

 along the midrib. 



The fruit is borne in a continuous narrow line on the 

 margin of the pinnules and is covered by an indusium 

 formed of its reflexed edges. There is said to be a 

 second indusium, also, attached within the receptacle and 

 spreading beneath the sporangia but this is not to be 

 discerned in most specimens. When young the outer 

 indusium forms a silvery-white edging on the underside 

 of the pinnules, but as the spore-cases mature, they peep 

 from under it, and turning a deep rich brown, cause the 

 frond to look as if embroidered. 



The bracken has many common names. Brake, 

 bracken and eagle fern are the only ones in ordinary use 

 in America. The last, as well as the specific name 

 aquilina,) is supposed to have been given to the plant 

 from some eagle-like characteristic, but whether this is 

 found in the claw-like crosiers, the broad fronds like an 

 eagle's wings, or the spread-eagle which some fancy they 

 see in a section of the stem, is not apparent. Erne fern, 

 an old name for this species, is merely another variation 

 for eagle fern, erne orherne, signifying eagle. The name 



