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Image Credit:Anna Povey – with permission
Scientific Name: Pteridium esculentum subsp. esculentum
Common Name: bracken
Family Classification (Clade): Pteridophytes
Family: Dennstaedtiaceae
Form Description: Fronds, up to 300 cm (but usually about 90cm tall), stiffly erect, leathery, glabrous on upper surface, appressed fine hairs under. Lobe present where segment joins stalk.
Municipality
Plant Communities
Habitat Notes
Widespread and abundant across most of Tasmania but broadly absent from the highlands and parts of the Midlands. Occurs in well-drained soils of most vegetation types but not usually in rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest and dark fern gullies.
Site Tolerance
Dry, Exposed, Moist
Soil Tolerance
Clay, Fertile, Loam, Nutrient-poor, Sandy, Well-drained
General Notes
Has moderate flammability. Sporelings are rarely seen except occasionally on burnt sites. Most growth is by spreading rhizomes. Under nursery glasshouse conditions blown-in spores often germinate and the sporelings are fast growing.
Propagation Calendar
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Flowering Month
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Seed Collecting Month
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Sowing Month
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Cutting Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Propagation Method
Seed Information
Seed Collection
Sori inconspicuous.
Seed Treatment Notes
Cultivation is difficult.
Cutting & Division Information
Natural propagation is by extension of rhizomes.