page_title: Pteridium esculentum
hierarchical_section_title: Pteridium esculentum
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of bracken (Pteridium esculentum)
context_page_description: Pteridium esculentum, commonly known as bracken fern, Austral bracken or simply bracken, is a species of the bracken genus native to a number of countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Esculentum means edible.
  First described as Pteris esculenta by German botanist Georg Forster in 1786, it gained its current binomial name in 1908. The Eora people of the Sydney region knew it as gurgi.
  P. esculentum 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 tall. The fronds are stiff with a brown stripe.
  It is found in all states of Australia apart from the Northern Territory, as well as New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Malaysia, Polynesia, and New Caledonia. Within Victoria it is widespread and common to altitudes of 1,000 metres. In New South Wales, it occurs across central, eastern and southern parts of the state. It can also be weedy and invade disturbed areas. In Western Australia, it grows near the southern and western coastlines, as far north as Geraldton.
context_section_description: Pteridium esculentum, commonly known as bracken fern, Austral bracken or simply bracken, is a species of the bracken genus native to a number of countries in the Southern Hemisphere.  Esculentum means edible.
  First described as Pteris esculenta by German botanist Georg Forster in 1786, it gained its current binomial name in 1908. The Eora people of the Sydney region knew it as gurgi.
  P. esculentum 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 (1 ft 8 in–6 ft 7 in) tall. The fronds are stiff with a brown stripe.
  It is found in all states of Australia apart from the Northern Territory, as well as New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Malaysia, Polynesia, and New Caledonia. Within Victoria it is widespread and common to altitudes of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). In New South Wales, it occurs across central, eastern and southern parts of the state. It can also be weedy and invade disturbed areas. In Western Australia, it grows near the southern and western coastlines, as far north as Geraldton.
  Like its northern hemisphere relatives, 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. Two species of fruit fly (Drosophila) were recorded in a field study near Sydney, Another study near Sydney yielded 17 herbivorous arthropods (15 insects and two mites), notable for the lack of Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) and Coleoptera (beetles).
caption: Bracken fronds in New Zealand
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Bracken growing in the wild (Pteridium esculentum)\nLatitude -45.020235\nLongitude 168.663182\n333m", "Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix S602 ZOOM", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012-04-21T13:38:49+12:00", "Image Artist": "Andre Chalmers", "Image ExifOffset": "362", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/240", "EXIF FNumber": "18/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:04:19 01:44:47", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:04:19 01:44:47", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "16/5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "79/10", "EXIF ApertureValue": "367/100", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "277/50", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "97/10", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1416", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1064", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3704", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3704", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "1"}