Pteridophytes (Spore Producing Plants: Ferns and More) • Earth.com

Bracken

(Pteridium aquilinum aquilinum)

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Description

Pteridium aquilinum (bracken,brake or common bracken),also known as eagle fern,and Eastern brakenfern,is a species of fern occurring in temperate and subtropical regions in both hemispheres.The extreme lightness of its spores has led to its global distribution.Common bracken was first described as Pteris aquilina by Carl Linnaeus,in Volume 2 of his Species Plantarum in 1753.The origin of the specific epithet derived from the Latin aquila "eagle".In the reprint of the Flora Suecica in 1755,Linnaeus explains that the name refers to the image of an eagle seen in the transverse section of the root.In spite of this,the opinion has been forwarded that the name pertains to the shape of the mature fronds appearing akin to an eagle's wing.However,medieval scholars,including Erasmus,thought the pattern of the fibres seen in a transverse section of the stipe resembled a double-headed eagle or oak tree.It was placed in the genus Pteridium by Friedrich Adalbert Maximilian Kuhn in 1879.It was traditionally treated as the sole species in the genus Pteridium (brackens);authorities have split and recognised up to 11 species in the genus,however.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum:
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order:Polypodiales
Family:Dennstaedtiaceae
Genus:Pteridium
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