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 obtaineda 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 ofa 
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, Prers, 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 Prerzs 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. 
