Pteridium aquilinum var. pubescens
Western Brakefern

Family: Dennstaedtiaceae (Bracken family)

Photo taken at Leavenworth Fish Hatchery, partially shaded dry area, wooded

Leaves:

deciduous; generally 50 to 200 cm; petiole from 10 to 100 cm, generally less than the leaf blade; blade 15 to 150 cm, pinnate or ternate-pinnately divided, usually compound 3 times, basal pair of pinnules often the largest; blades glabrous or inconspicuously hairy above, more or less densely villous or villous-puberulent beneath and on the indusial flap

Sori:

true indusium inconspicuous or nonexistent; sori protected by a narrowly inrolled indusial leaf margin and a delicate concealed inner indusium

Plant:

Rootstocks boiled or roasted and eaten by the Okanagon, Thompson, and Montana Indian.

Habitat:

moist to dry woods or open slopes, lowlands to middle elevations in the mountains

Distribution of species:

Alaska to California and northwest Mexico, east to South Dakota, also in eastern Canada and the northeast United States

Distribution of genus:

more or less 5 species: temperate and tropical areas worldwide