Native and naturalized plants
Native and naturalized plants of the Carolinas and Georgia, eastern Tennessee and northern Florida

1169
Weakley's Flora ( 4/7/08 ): Dennstaedtiaceae
Pteridium aquilinum +

SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS National Database: Dennstaedtiaceae
Pteridium aquilinum +

SYNONYMOUS WITH
Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (1968): Pteridaceae
010-05-001
Pteridium aquilinum +

Common Name:
Bracken Fern, Brake

Fern/Fern ally
Perennial

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Documented growing wild in GA NC SC



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...Moist ...Dry

Leaves:
3-pinnatifid or rarely 3-pinnate

Flower:
Summer/Fall

Fruit:
Summer/Fall

To learn more about this plant, look it up in a good book!
Gardening with Native Plants of the South p124




Click picture for larger image.

image of Pteridium aquilinum +, image of Pteridium aquilinum +
     www_ctferns


image of Pteridium aquilinum +, image of Pteridium aquilinum +
JK Marlow      jkm0205cb_10a


May
Greenville County SC

Blades widely triangular to ovate, the basal pinnae projecting forward, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.

Acknowledgments to Patrick McMillan, Clemson University's Herbarium director, for taxonomic review

 

image of Pteridium aquilinum +, image of Pteridium aquilinum +
JK Marlow      jkm0405t_27


May
Transylvania County NC
DuPont State Forest

Acknowledgments to Patrick McMillan, Clemson University's Herbarium director, for taxonomic review

 

image of Pteridium aquilinum +, image of Pteridium aquilinum +
JK Marlow      jkm080505_044


May
Spartanburg County SC
Chinquapin Greenway

 

image of Pteridium aquilinum +, image of Pteridium aquilinum +
JK Marlow      jkm080505_044b


May
Spartanburg County SC
Chinquapin Greenway

 

image of Pteridium aquilinum +, image of Pteridium aquilinum +
JK Marlow      jkm0511a_18


November
Haywood County NC

Turns brown in autumn, but does not wither away until following year, per How to Know the Ferns by Frances Theodora Parsons, 1899.

Acknowledgments to Patrick McMillan, Clemson University's Herbarium director, for taxonomic review

 

"Lots of people hardly ever feel real soil under their feet, see plants grow except in flower pots, or get far enough beyond the street light to catch the enchantment of a night sky studded with stars." — Tatanga Mani