Bracken
Bracken
Ferns & Moss
The big, feathery fern that carpets heaths and hillsides — tough, poisonous to grazers, and spreading underground right across the countryside.
💡 Fun Facts
- Bracken doesn't grow from flowers or seeds — it scatters millions of tiny, dust-like spores from the underside of its big feathery fronds.
- Almost nothing eats it: its leaves are full of natural poisons, so grazing animals leave it well alone.
- Hidden underground, its tough creeping stems can spread for years — so a single bracken plant may carpet a whole hillside.
📅 Through the Year
- Leaf-out:May
- Leaf fall:October to November
Name Story
Pteridium aquilinum
means “the eagle fern”
a traditional storyThe ‘eagle’ in the name really is the Latin for eagle, but the reason for it — an eagle seen in the sliced-open root — is a story people have told for centuries rather than a documented fact.
What does its name mean?
- Pteridium — little fernGreek pteris ‘fern’, from pteron ‘wing, feather’
- aquilinum — of an eagle, eagle-likeLatin aquila ‘eagle’
‘Little fern’ comes from a Greek word for feather or wing — a nod to the feathery fronds. As for ‘eagle’: people have long said that if you slice through the plant’s underground stem, the dark markings inside form the shape of a spread-winged eagle.