Pteridium aquilinum

Common Bracken
  • The biggest french fern: leaves up to 2 m tall on a far creeping rhizome
  • Triangular blade, more or less parallel to the ground
  • Long and rigid stalk
  • Often sterile

HYPOLEPIDACEAE

= DENNSTAEDTIACEAE

genus Pteridium
.

  • Growth in spring, fructification in summer but often sterile, leaves disappearing after the first frosts
  • Open woods, moors, clearings;
    up to an elevation of 2000 m
  • Widespread in Vercors, in the forest zone
  • Bracken can harbour large populations of ticks ("nice" pictures in C.N Page, 1997, see references)
Note : interesting details on this fern are given on the site : The Natural History of the Northwoods