CHAPTER XY. 
THE COMMON BRAKE 
{Fteris aquilina). 
TERIS AQUILIXA is tlie commonest of all 
Ferns, and is found under slightly varying 
forms all over the world; it hardly, therefore, 
requires description in order to he recognised. 
Its broad, branching foliage, regardless of the 
sun and wind, clothes heath and hillside with 
beautiful verdure everywhere throughout the 
country, except high up on the hills, where a 
line seems drawn at the same level as for corn 
cultivation, beyond which it does not make its appearance. 
As a species it is distinguished by the spore-heaps forming 
a continuous margin to the under side of the pinnae, a 
characteristic possessed by no other British Fern — this being 
the sole representative of the family. The young Fern- 
hunter will do well to practise his apprentice eye upon this 
Fern, as at least three types of marked variation are almost 
certain to reward his search in a very short time — viz., 
the plain, normal form, in which the pinnulets are smooth- 
edged ; a second form, in which they are deeply saw-toothed — 
in fact, nearly divided again ; and, thirdly, a hard, crispy form, 
in which all the parts are much contracted in width, and some- 
what curly. These have been christened P. a. integerrima, vera, 
