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Ferns are favored by pixies, who are said to sometimes be found near them.
Botanical: Pteris aquilina (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Filices
---Synonyms---Brake Fern. Female Fern.
---Parts Used---Fronds. root.
The Bracken or Brake Fern, often called by old writers the Female Fern, is found in almost every part of the globe, except the extreme north and south; it grows more freely than any other of the Fern tribe throughout Britain, flourishing luxuriantly on heaths and moors.
---Description---The rootstock is long and fibrous (creeping horizontally), very thick and succulent, throwing up solitary fronds at intervals, which soon cover large patches of ground. The stems are erect and treelike, velvety at the base, very brittle at first, afterwards tough and wiry, ordinarily 2 to 3 feet high, though in favourable soil and situations attaining a height of 8 to 10 feet. They bear branched fronds, twice or thrice pinnate, the pinnae more or less opposite, the pinnules long, narrow, smooth-edged, roundpointed and leathery. The sori on the back of the frond form a continuous line along the margin, being covered by an indusium attached to the slightly recurved edge of the pinnule.
The lower portion of the stem, when cut obliquely at the base, shows a pattern or figure formed of the wood bundles, which was supposed by Linnaeus to represent a spread eagle, hence he gave the species the name of Aquilina. The name of the genus, Pteris, is derived from pteron (a feather), from the feathery appearance of the fronds, in the same way that the English name Fern is a contraction of the Anglo-Saxon fepern (a feather). In some parts of England it is called 'King Charles in the Oak Tree.' In Scotland, it is said to be an impression of the Devil's Foot, and yet witches were reputed to detest this fern, for the reason that it bears on its cut stem the Greek letter X, which is the initial of Christos. In Ireland, it is called the Fern of God, because if the stem is cut into three sections, on the first of these will be seen the letter G, on the second O, and on the third D.
The spores of this and other Ferns are too minute to be visible to the naked eye. Before the structure of Ferns was understood, their reproduction was thought to be due to unknown agencies - whence various superstitions arose.
'This kinde of Ferne,' writes Lyte in 1587, 'beareth neither flowers nor sede, except we shall take for sede the black spots growing on the backsides of the leaves, the whiche some do gather thinking to worke wonders, but to say the truth, it is nothing els but trumperi and superstition.'
The minute spores were reputed to confer invisibility on their possessor if gathered at the only time when they were said to be visible, i.e. on St. John's Eve, at the precise moment at which the saint was born. Shakespeare says, I Henry IV:
'We have the receipt of Fern seed - we walk invisible.'
and Ben Jonson:
'I had no medicine, Sir, to walk invisible
No fern seed in my pocket.'
The Fern was also said to confer perpetual youth.
---Medicinal Action and Uses---The Ancients used both the fronds and stems of the Bracken in diet-drinks and medicine for many disorders. Culpepper gives several uses for it:
'The roots being bruised and boiled in mead and honeyed water, and drunk kills both the broad and long worms in the body, and abates the swelling and hardness of the spleen. The leaves eaten, purge the belly and expel choleric and waterish humours that trouble the stomach. The roots bruised and boiled in oil or hog's grease make a very profitable ointment to heal the wounds or pricks gotten in the flesh. The powder of them used in foul ulcers causes their speedier healing.
'Fern, being burned, the smoke thereof drives away serpents, gnats, and other noisome creatures, which in fenny countries do, in the night-time, trouble and molest people lying in their beds with their faces uncovered.'
Gerard says that 'the root of Ferne cast into an hogshead of wine keepeth it from souring.' 'For thigh aches' (sciatica), says another old writer, 'smoke the legs thoroughly with Fern Bracken.'
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---Use as Food---The rhizome is astringent and also contains much starch, and has been considered recently as a possible source of starch for food and industry. There seems, however, to be some doubt as to whether its astringent properties do not render the Bracken unsuitable for human food. Humboldt reported that the inhabitants of Palmaand Gomera - islands of the Canary Group use Bracken as food, grinding the rhizome to powder and mixing it with a small quantity of barley-meal, the composition being termed goflo - the use of such food being, however, a sign of the extreme poverty of the inhabitants. The rootstock of the Esculent Brake (Pteris esculenta) was much used by the aborigines of New Zealand as food, when the British first settled there, and is also eaten much by the natives of the Society Islands and Australia.
The young fronds used sometimes to be used as a vegetable, being sold in bundles like Asparagus, but although considered a delicacy in Japan, they are somewhat flavourless and insipid to our modern Western taste, though they are not indigestible, and in the absence of all other fresh vegetables might prove useful. In Japan, before cooking, the tender shoots are first washed carefully in fresh water, then plunged into boiling water for two minutes or so, and then immersed again in cold water for a couple of hours. After this preparation they may be used for cooking, either being prepared as a pur‚e, like spinach, or like asparagus heads, being served with melted butter or some similar sauce.
In Siberia and in Norway, the uncoiled fronds have been employed with about twothirds of their weight of malt for brewing a kind of beer.
---Other Uses---The astringent properties of the rhizome have caused a decoction to be recommended for the dressing and preparation of kid and chamois leather.
Before the introduction of soda from seasalt and other sources, the large amount of alkali obtained from the ashes of Bracken was found serviceable for glassmaking, both in the northern parts of this Island and in other countries, and was used freely for the purpose. The ash contains enough potash to be used as a substitute for soap. The ashes are mixed with water and formed into balls; these made hot in the fire are used to make lye for the scouring of linen. In the East, tallow boiled with Bracken ash is made into soap.
The potash yield of Bracken ash is so considerable that in view of the present scarcity of fertilizers, this source of supply is well worth attention. Potash is a particularly valuable fertilizer for potato and sugar-beet land, especially for light loams and gravels and sandy soils. It should be borne in mind by persons having access to quantities of Bracken, that they have a usable supply of this almost indispensable manure at hand, either for cultivating flowers or crops, at the expense of a little trouble.
The best time for cutting Bracken for burning is from June to the end of October, but the ash from green Bracken is much more valuable than from the old and withered plant. In the month of June, the fronds and stems hold as much as 20 per cent of potash, but in August that amount is reduced to 5 per cent, a large proportion having been given back to the rhizome or soil. Experiments have been contemplated by the Board of Agriculture to determine whether the cutting and incineration of Bracken in June, with a view to obtaining its potash content, would be economically feasible.
Where Bracken flourishes unchecked, it becomes injurious to sheep-farming by its encroachments on the grass on the runs, this being especially the case in the Lake District, and it would be of double advantage to cut it down and use it to supplement the reduced stocks of manures. Potash from Bracken is very soluble and should not be exposed to rain. The ashes as soon as cool should be collected and kept dry until required for use. It is stated that 50 tons of the dried fern produces 1 ton of potash. Instructions for dealing with Bracken are given by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland in Leaflets 18, 25, 39 and 42.
Formerly in both the green and the dried state, Bracken was used as fodder for cattle. When dry, it makes excellent litter for both horses and cattle, and forms also a very durable thatch. The young tops of the Fern are boiled in Hampshire for pigs' food, and the peculiar flavour of Hampshire bacon has sometimes been attributed to this custom. The fronds are much used as packing material for fruit, keeping it fresh and cool and imparting neither colour nor flavour. The dried fronds may be used in the garden for protecting tender plants.
In early spring, when dormant, large clumps may be lifted from moors or commons to serve as screens in the wilder parts of the garden, though the Fern is somewhat difficult to transplant and afterwards preserve with success, and is often destroyed by spring frosts. While growing in its natural habitats, Bracken is of value as cover and shelter for game.
In the seventeenth century it was customary to set growing Bracken on fire, believing that this would produce rain. A like custom of 'firing the Bracken' still prevails to-day on the Devonshire moors.
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