1. Portion of leaf blade of the Brake or Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum, var. lanuginosum). 2. Leaf segment illustrating the sessile character and the position of the sori beneath the recurved margin.

BRAKE or BRACKEN.
(Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn, var. lanuginosum (Bong.) Fernald.)

This plant is a well known fern throughout the northwest and is common in Mt. Rainier National Park. It is a weed fern, growing under a wide variety of conditions and at times reaching a rank growth. In the park its characteristic habitat is open areas in the forests, in old burns and long highways where the soil is generally rather dry and of poor quality, but it is also often encountered in the moist wooded regions. It contributes to our fire hazard to a considerable extent as these ferns burn readily and are generally most abundant along highways and in old burns where the danger of fire is very great. Botanically its range encompasses a wide area from Alaska south through the Rockies into Mexico and Guatemala and it also occurs along the Pacific Coast south to California. Locally it occurs from park boundaries to the lower parts of the Hudsonian zone. Fronds vary in size from 12 inches to 20 feet in length with the average being about 6 feet. The outline of the fronds also varies from ovate to more or less equalateral, sharply pointed or tapering. Fronds are generally 3 compound, stiff, rather brittle and harsh to the touch, grey-green in color, glabrous on upper side and grey-wooly beneath. Larger pinnae short stalked with pinnules at the base and on lower side generally longer than those on the upper side. Pinnules ovate-oblong; widest near middle and tapering toward both ends. Pinnule segments are oblong to pinnate, deeply cleft, widest at base and with entire margins. Stalks are stiff with a prominent depressed groove down the center; straw colored. Spores are borne in sori beneath the recurved margin of the pinnule segments; margin recurved along its entire length. Rhizome black, subterranean, branched, creeping and woody; usually about 4-12 inches below the surface of the soil. This rhizome sends up new fronds as it continues to grow and spread underground. The rhizome contains abundant starch and this was formerly utilized in various was as food by the Indians of the Puget Sound country. It is said that the young sheets (fronds) were at one time eaten like asparagus by Japanese who had come to the Puget Sound country.

SYNONYMS: Pteris aquilina, var. lanuginosa Bong.; Pteridium aquilinium, var. pubescens Underw.

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