GROUP IV 



FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE AND SIMILAR ; 

 SPORANGIA ON OR BENEATH A REFLEXED MARGIN 



Pteris esculenta, a variety of our Brake, is said to 

 have been one of the chief articles of food in New- 

 Zealand. It was called "fern-root," and in Dr. 

 Thompson's " Story of New Zealand " is spoken of 

 as follows : " This food is celebrated in song, and 

 the young women, in laying before travellers bas- 

 kets of cooked fern-root, chant : 

 ' What shall be our food ? Shall 

 shellfish and fern-root? That is 

 the root of the earth ; that is the 

 food to satisfy a man ; the tongues 

 grow by reason of the licking, 

 as if it were the tongue of a 

 dog.' " 



The titles Brake and Bracken 

 are not always confined to their 

 lawful owner. Frequently they 

 are applied to any large ferns, 

 such as the Osmundas, or even to 

 such superficially fern-like plants 

 as Myrica asple^iifolia, the so-called 

 sweet fern. 



There is a difference of opinion 

 as to the origin of the plant's sci- 

 entific name, which signifies eagle 

 wing. Some suppose it to be derived from the 

 outline of the heraldic eagle which has been seen 

 b}' the imaginative in a cross-section of the young 

 stalk. It seems more likely that a resemblance has 

 been fancied between the spreading frond and the 



plumage of an eagle. 



107 



Pinnule of Brake showing 

 reflexed edges 



