Oh the Fern!

I learned an interesting little fact today. Quite surprised me.

The bracken fern is the most common fern in the northwest and throughout the world.

Growing up in the northwest, I had always thought our most common fern was the dark green sword fern. It's the fern that is seen on our forest floors all year round with its Christmasy green leathery leaves. You will always see the sword fern along your trails and paths. Then I'm told by a national park ranger I trust that no, the bracken fern is even more common than the sword fern.

So yeah, I had to look it up and wouldn't you know - the ranger was right. The bracken fern grows on every continent (except Antarctica) and in all life zones (except deserts). That's pretty amazing.

Not only is it prevalent around the globe, its fossil remains have been dated to 55 million years ago. It's old and abundant. The plant that just keeps going and growing no matter what mother nature throws at it.

In fact it was made to be dominant and take over. Allelopathic chemicals that inhibit growth of other plants are produced and released by bracken ferns. They seem to take over in areas of forest fire because of this chemical.

Another interesting tidbit I found is that the name bracken is derived from Swedish & Danish words that mean simply, fern. So when we say bracken fern we're really saying fern fern.