Pteridium pseudocaudatum

Tailed Bracken Fern is a native herbaceous perennial in the Bracken Fern Family (DENNSTAEDTIACEAE). It can be found throughout Alabama. Tailed Bracken Fern occurs in pine forests, in hardwood forests, in secondary and cut-over woodlands, on roadsides, and in pastures. It is a perennial with a long creeping rhizome. The rhizome is black in color and may extend several yards between fronds (leaves). The fronds are produced singly at widely spaced intervals along the rhizome. The fronds are erect, stiff and leathery in texture, triangular to ovate in outline, petiolate, with the blade 3-pinnatifid or 3-pinnate. The rachis and costa are sparsely pubescent to glabrous. The terminal segment of each pinnule is 6-15 times as long as wide. The fronds are deciduous and often die down during summer droughts, with fresh fronds appearing after the rains and lasting until frost. Tailed Bracken Fern reproduces by forming spores in sporangia. The sporangia are grouped in clusters (sori) that are located along the margins of the pinna. The sori are covered by a true inner indusium and a false outer indusium formed by the recurved margin of the pinna. A second speciesy of Bracken Fern occurs in north Alabama. Eastern Bracken Fern (Pteridium latiusculum (Desv.) Hieron. ex R.E.Fr.) differs from Tailed Bracken Fern in that the terminal segments of the pinnule are only 2-4 times as long as wide and the midrib and costae are moderately pubescent. Tailed Bracken Fern rarely produces spores. Fertile plants are often found late in the year after a disturbance such as a fire has occurred. All parts of Bracken Fern contain compounds with mutagenic and carcinogenic properties. It also releases allelopathic chemicals into the environment that inhibit or kill other vegetation. Tailed Bracken Fern is sometimes cultivat