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THE FERN WORLD 
indusia, formed of the reflexed or bent back margins of the 
lobes. Our native species occurs at all heights, from the sea 
level to two thousand feet above it. 
Distribution. — The Bracken is found throughout Europe, 
except towards the extreme north. In Asia it occurs, 
amongst other places, in Siberia, Kamtschatka, China, India, 
Ceylon, in the oriental Archipelago and in the Philippine 
Islands. In Africa, north, east, west, and south, as well as 
in a great number of the islands surrounding that vast con- 
tinent. It occurs also in the United States of America, in 
Canada and California, ill Mexico and Guatemala, and in 
various parts of South America. It is also found in the 
Islands of the seas in various parts of the world. In the 
British Islands it is to be found almost everywhere, in many 
places literally covering large tracts of ground. It will 
grow plentifully even on open downs exposed to the sun, and 
where the soil is hard and sandy. But in such places it 
becomes dwarfed and stunted. It is under the moist shelter 
of woods and on the high and damp embankments of shady 
lanes that it attains its greatest perfection, becoming in those 
positions an object of extreme grace and beauty. 
Culture. — Amongst the hardiest of Ferns the Bracken will 
grow readily, even in ordinary garden soil. But the soil 
which will the best suit it is rich yellow loam with a cover- 
ing of leaf-mould. The first possesses the especial advantage 
of keeping the rhizomas and rootlets continually damp, 
whilst the leaf-mould supplies the nutriment which the rain 
carries down to the loamy subsoil. The finest specimens of 
Bracken — quite a forest of them indeed — -we remember to 
have found growing in a wood the subsoil of which was 
stiff yellow loam, and the surface soil spongy leaf-mould. 
In the garden the Bracken must have plenty of room for its 
travelling rhizomas, and the position should be moist and 
sheltered. Especial care, however, is needed in removing 
