Pteridium esculentum - Bracken

Latin plant name Pteridium esculentum Common plant name Bracken Plant type Bracken Size (meters) < 2 m Distinguishing features Pteridium esculentum is very quick to colonise disturbed areas and can outcompete other plants to form a dense understorey. It is often treated as a weed. It does create a more humid sheltered microclimate under its leaves and is food for a variety of native insects. It grows from creeping rhizomes, which are covered with reddish hair. From them arise single large roughly triangular fronds, which grow to 0.5–2 metres. In Japan and New Zeland they eat them.