58 
Genus 2. 
Brake. Fteris, Bags of spores in a long straight line 
covered by the bent-back unbroken edge of the leaflets. 
This differs from the Hard Berns, Blechna, in having the 
edge bent back to form a covering, and from the Maiden- 
worts, Adianta, (none of which grow in this district) in 
having the bent-back edges in an unbroken line. The fer- 
tile leaflets of this genus have a thin, white, membranous 
edge, which is the part of the leaf that bends back and 
forms a cover of the clusters of fruit. These clusters are 
seated on the extremity of the green part. “An inner 
cover is also present in ours and some other species, which 
many botanists consider a necessary character of a Pteris, 
and that its absence or presence might serve to divide the 
genus into two.” — Francis. There are many foreign Ferns 
that belong to this genus. 
“ The heath this night must be my bed, 
The bracken curtain for my head, 
My lullaby the warder’s tread. 
Far, far from love and thee, Mary ; 
To-morrow eve, more stilly laid, 
My couch may be my bloody plaid, 
My vesper song, thy wail, sweet maid ! 
It will not waken me, Mary.” 
Scott’s Lady of the LaJce^ Canto III. 
Plate II, fig. 19. 
Brake or Bracken. JPteris aquilina. This Fern abounds 
on all our Commons and uncultivated ground. It afibrds 
the agriculturist considerable trouble to exterminate it, in 
consequence of its creeping, under-ground stem. It is said 
that Linnaeus, the great botanist, came from Sweden to 
England to see the Furze, among which the Brake is con- 
stantly intermingled. When the great naturalist beheld 
its bright yellow flowers covering acres of ground, he is 
described as falling down on his knees in humble adoration. 
Neither is this Fern destitute of beauty and elegance, and 
together with the Flowering Fern, Osmunda Begalis, resem- 
bles the Tree Ferns of tropical climes more than any other. 
