"Raphanus" wrote in message
ups.com...
Being new to fern identification, I'd like confirmation that the fern
in

http://www.flickr.com/photos/raphanus97/

is in fact Ptridium aquilinum. The fern seems to be tripinnate on the
lower part of the frond and bipinnate at the top. Have I got this
right?

The fern is a volunteer in my newly landscape backyard in Aiken County,
SC.

I think it's indeed likely to be a juvenile bracken fern [or possibly
a rejuvenated sprout from a small piece of rhizome left behind after
the landscaping]. In adults, the leaves are much longer-stalked
and are spaced widely apart on the long-creeping rhizomes instead of
forming a crowded clump as in yours. If I recall correctly, young
plants of bracken do resemble your fern. Your plant's ultimate frond
segments also look like those of bracken.

cheers