Bigal writes


I thought that you could identify a fern by the spores on the leaves.
If that is the case, bracken isn't a fern.

If you went by that, the Royal Fern wouldn't be a fern, nor polypody ;-)
Ferns have spores, which may be underneath the leaves or in separate
spore-bearing structures (like the two I mentioned above)

Bracken spore bearing thingies are in a thin line around the edge of
each leaf segment. The spores ripen in July and August.

It just looks like one. I
once lived in Wales but worked in Aston university, B'ham. I was
asked if I could bring in some bracken that was wanted for some
research. The arguement was that I had brought back some male fern
and not bracked, Until I pointed out that there were no spores on the
leaves.

Male fern spore bearing thingies are obvious in the central area of the
leaf area, and therefore different from bracken..

--
Kay

Stewart Robert Hinsley writes

Bracken is a fern. Some ferns have both fertile (spore-bearing) and
sterile fronds; others, I presume, have only fertile fronds.

I thought it was more that some ferns had spore bearing fronds which
were distinct from the non spore bearing fronds (like Osmunda and
polypody) whereas others had fertile fronds which were not distinct. But
I could well be wrong on that.

(Quite possibly pteridologists can identify fern species by the
distribution and shape of the sporangia.)

It's an important character in identification from what I see in the
field guides.

--
Kay