THE BRACKEN. 77 



almost justify its being considered a weed. The great 

 spreading fronds, however, are not without their place in 

 effective plantings. The species is one of the most diffi- 

 cult to transplant. The long running rootstock can 

 rarely be taken up entire and those who can make it grow 

 in new quarters regard it as an accomplishment. It is 

 about as hard to start in a new place as it is to root it 

 out when it has once obtained a hold. Those who intend 

 to cultivate it should take up very small plants with 

 plenty of earth early in spring. A few months will suf- 

 fice to produce fine large fronds. 



In dry sandy soil there is a variety of bracken known 

 as pseudocaudata which differs from the type in its longer, 

 narrower and more distant pinnules. It is found from 

 Long Island to the Gulf of Mexico and Arizona, and is 

 especially abundant in the pine barrens. The part of a 

 frond shown is from a Long Island specimen collected 

 by the author. It has frequently been confused with P. 

 caudata, a species common in the Tropics and which also 

 occurs in the southern part of the United States. In 

 western America the common bracken gives way to the 

 variety known as lanuginosa or pubescens which in ad- 

 dition to being much taller is densely woolly underneath. 



The generic name, Pteris, is an ancient name for ferns 

 in general, from a Greek word meaning a wing. Its 

 application to this class of plants, containing as it does so 

 many feathery forms, was exceedingly appropriate. The 

 term is now restricted to the bracken family. Since our 

 plant differs from other species of Pteris in occasionally 

 possessing a second fugacious indusium it has been pro- 

 posed to place it in a separate genus as Pteridium but 

 this seems an over refinement. 



