THIS IS A DRAFT
The species account below is an early version, drafted around 2003. It has been provided here to aid understanding, but please be aware it may not fully tally with the up-to-date map and statistics shown below.
Pteridium aquilinum
Bracken
Species Details
Bracken is a very common native perennial of a wide range of habitats on dry acid soils including woods, heaths, hedges and moors. It occurs widely throughout our area being dominant over large areas of upland grazings in the Dark Peak. It is only less frequent in some parts of the White Peak, the Southern Claylands and the Trent Valley. It is excluded from the former by shallower more alkaline soils, and from the latter two by wetter more intensively farmed soils. It has spread markedly through the South West and Dark Peak during the 20th century due to changes in farming practices and the fact that its fronds are no longer harvested as a resource (Moss 1913). It was collected as animal bedding, for covering charcoal burning hearths and for packing pottery. (I do not understand ref to Anderson ?1990)