( Plant Index )
BRACKEN
Genus: Pteridium
Family: Dennstaedtiaceae
Species: Pteridium aquilinum
Names:
- Bracken
- Adlerfarn [German]
- Águila [Spanish]
- Aigle [French]
- Àguila [Catalan]
- Águila Real [Spanish]
- Bracken Fern
- Brake
- Common Bracken
- Eagle Fern
- Eastern Bracken Fern
- Falguera [Catalan]
- Falguera Aquilina [Catalan]
- Felce Aquilina [Italian]
- Feto [Portuguese]
- Feto Comum [Portuguese]
- Feto-Dos-Montes [Portuguese]
- Feto-Ordinário [Portuguese]
- Fougère Aigle [French]
- Grande Fougère [French]
- Halocarpus [Ancient Greek]
- Helecho Águila [Spanish]
- Helecho Común [Spanish]
- Kilpjalg [Estonian]
- Kotka Sõnajalg [Estonian]
- Kotkansiipi [Finnish]
- Kowaowao [Maori]
- Orlica [Polish]
- Orlica Pospolita [Polish]
- Ormbunke [Swedish]
- Örnbräken [Swedish]
- Paco [Spanish]
- Pako [Maori]
- Raden [Breton/Cornish/Manx]
- Rahui [Maori]
- Raithneach [Irish/Scottish Gaelic]
- Rhedyn [Welsh]
- Sõnajalg [Estonian]
- Turkey Fern
- Varen [Dutch]
- Warabi [Japanese]
- Western Bracken Fern
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| Pteridium aquilinum, Own Work -- Rasbak |
Distribution:
- Africa, Eastern: Ethiopia
- Africa, Northern: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia
- Asia, Central: Kazakhstan
- Asia, East: China (China North-Central), Japan, Korea, Mongolia
- Asia, Northern: Russia (Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, Central European Russia, Chita, East European Russia, Irkutsk, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Krym, Kuril Is., Magadan, North Caucasus, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Sakhalin, South European Russia, West Siberia)
- Asia, West: Cyprus, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Yemen
- Europe, Central: Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland
- Europe, Eastern: Belarus, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine
- Europe, Northern: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden
- Europe, Southern: Albania, Croatia, Greece (including Crete), Italy (including Sardinia, Sicily), North Macedonia, Portugal (including Azores, Madeira), Serbia, Slovenia, Spain (including the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands)
- Europe, Western: Belgium, England, France (including Corsica), Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland
- Oceania: New Zealand (New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Antipodean Is., Chatham Is., Kermadec Is.)
Physical Description
Of the family Dennstaetiaceae, this compiler finds only one genus worthy of note: Pteridium, or the common bracken. This is the world’s most abundant fern, with the broadest distribution.
Pteridium are large, coarse ferns with a curious reproductive cycle. They reproduce differently in alternating generations: one generation reproduces via spores, the next via egg and sperm gametes, and again via spores. They grow in all environments except deserts, though they prefer moorland.
Bracken thrives and dominates in soil just after a fire. It poisons the soil around it and extends its canopy of fronds, blocking out other plants. Its thick litter also inhibits the growth of other plants, save the few well adapted to living with them. Removing them may not be enough, as the toxins they impart to the soil will linger and inhibit the growth of herbs and saplings.
Several plants, such as the [common bluebell] (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and wood anemone (Anemonoides nemorosa), depend on the shady bracken canopy in the absence of a forest canopy.
It does not take to trampling from livestock well.
Bracken stands appear to be an ideal environment for climbing corydalis, wild gladiolus, and chickweed, and various mosses.
Pteris aquilinum is a weed in the acidic upland pastures of northwestern Europe. It is regarded as the 5th most common weed in the world.
Symbolism
It should be noted that the name “bracken” is likely derived from the Middle English plural for “brake,” a generic word for “fern” that refers primarily to the genus Pteris.
Alternately, the name is taken from Old Norse, like the Swedish bräken and Danish bregne.
Skinner relays that this is likely the fern that lent its name to the villages of Landisfearn, Fernham, Fernhurst, Farndale, Farnham, Farnsfield Farnsworth, Fearnall, Fearnow, Fearningham, and the like
It is called “eagle fern” because of a claimed likeness in form between its frond and the wing of an eagle.
Culture
Bedding and Fertilizer
Bracken makes good animal bedding because it mulches into a rich fertilizer over time. It is most effective as a winter mulch, as it helps prevent potassium and nitrogen loss in the soil and lowers soil pH.
Cheesemaking
Bracken leaves are used in the Mediterranean to filter sheep’s milk and to make ricotta cheese.
Potash
Green bracken ferns can be rendered into [potash]. The fronds, on average, produce 25% potash and sometimes up to 55%.
Poison
Bracken contains ptaquiloside, a carcinogenic compound that damages the DNA and causes cancer in the GI tract. This extends to the milk of animals that eat bracken and even the spores. This poison is highly concentrated in the buttermilk.
This chemical is water soluble and destroyed by heat (cooking) and alkaline conditions (soaking in ash). Functionally, the plant needs to be nixtamalized, like maize corn. Still, it is advised to moderate consumption, and the British Royal Horticultural Society recommends against any bracken consumption by humans or livestock.
This toxin can leach from the plant into the water supply, which is the leading explanation for high stomach/esophageal cancer rates in Wales and South America.
Some evidence indicates that the toxic effects of this chemical can be countered with selenium supplementation.
Also, like other ferns, uncooked bracken contains thiaminase.
Insecticide
This fern also produces hydrogen cyanide to stave off being eaten by animals and insects. More curiously, it produces two major molting hormones. Insects that eat bracken are subject to rapid, uncontrolled molting until death.
Food
Young fiddleheads can be eaten, but depending on the species, they could contain carcinogens. They can be eaten fresh, cooked, served in soup, dried, or pickled (sometimes in alcohol, such as sake). Bracken is common in East Asian cuisine. Because bracken is so ubiquitous, immigrant populations from East Asia can quickly acquire it wherever they immigrate.
The rhizomes can be ground into flour to make bread. In the Canary Islands, they were used in a porridge called gofio.
In Siberia and North America, rhizomes were used to make beer.
Compiler Notes
- Excellent starting point for developing place names.
- Bracken’s vitality after a fire can make it a symbol of the bitter resilience of people rebuilding after a disaster or for the unsavory persons who move to take advantage immediately after calamity.
- The bluebell and anemone, which thrive under a bracken canopy, could be interpreted as the virtuous and noble still surviving and thriving in the face of adversity. Less naively, pairing bluebell or anemone with bracken could signify the accusation of “collaborator!” Nobles with strong criminal connections could be called “bluebells.”
- Strong eagle associations are worth playing with. Perhaps it’s a reagent for a druid to take on the form of an eagle or a vegetable approximation.
- The fronds symbolize eagle wings, which could be an oblique reference to factional emblems (for example, an imperial eagle).
- Bracken, as a magical stand-in for the alchemical functions of potash, could be effective.
- Bracken from novel location (the grave of a murdered man, the path of a Wild Hunt, etc.) might produce novel potash for arcane works.
- Bracken’s molting hormones can have horrific effects on arthropods and arthropod monsters/people. Worth exploring.
- Consider the effects of framing someone as an insect or vermin while casting a bracken-based curse. Might this send them into a personal tailspin as they feel compelled to leave their occupation and half-start new lines of work or hobbies as they ruin themselves? What would happen if the curse forced a change in their physiology? What would a constantly molting man look like?
Image Refs
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adelaarsvaren_planten_Pteridium_aquilinum.jpg )
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See Also:
Prestigious Plants
- Plants
- Flowers
- Trees
- Ferns
- Moss and Lichen [Pending]
- Fungi [Pending]
- Cladistic Index
- Herbal Medicine [Pending]
- Resin, Incense, Balsam, and Lacquer [Pending]
Other Ferns
- Adder's Tongue and Moonwort
- Horsetail Fern
- Ladyfern
- Maidenhair Fern and Brake
- Ostrich Fern
- Royal Fern
- Wood Fern
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Sources:
-Skinner, Charles M. “Myths and Legends of Flowers, Trees, Fruits, and Plants : In All Ages and in All Climes : Skinner, Charles M. (Charles Montgomery), 1852-1907 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott Co., 1 Jan. 1970, https://archive.org/details/mythslegendsoffl00skin.
( https://powo.science.kew.org/ )
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracken )
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennstaedtiaceae )
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteridium_aquilinum )
Name assistance provided by Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
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