WSU Clark County Extension
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Western Brackenfern

Scientific name: Pteridium aquilinum
Taxonomy
Family:Dennstaedtiaceae
Type:Ferns
Native:YES
Plant Requirements
Zone:3 to 10
Sun:Full sun
Plant Characteristics
Height:5 ft
Width:5 ft
Additional Characteristics
Trees


Fruit

Leaves


Bark
Wildlife value

Poisonous
Description Western Brackenfern is best known as a weed, as well as for its foliage which is poisonous to horses and sheep.

  Morphology:
Bracken Fern is a large perennial rhizomatous fern that can attain a height of 3’-6’ and can spread out as wide. Leaf blades are pinnately compound. Leaf blades are broad (3 feet long, 3 feet wide), triangular, dark green, leathery and coarse-textured. A mature leaf will bend nearly horizontal. The leaf is divided into 3 parts, 1 terminal and 2 opposite. Each of the leaf parts is triangular and composed of numerous oblong, pointed leaflets, which are in turn composed of narrow, blunt-tipped subleaflets known as pinnae.

Reproduction is by underground rhizomes or via spores released on the underside of the pinnae.

  Adaptation:
Brackenfern is frequently found in open areas or pastures on acidic sites, along roads our in upland forests. Brackenfern is often thought of as a weed since it can take over a disturbed site and spread out in an aggressive fashion.

  Pests:
None reported.

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