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Plant ID

Denno666Denno666 Posts: 109

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Can anybody help me identify this fern?  I haven't really got a clue about ferns, I'm guessing it's a common garden variety as they just spring up everywhere.

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  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,272

    Certainly looks like common bracken (Pteridium aquilinum).

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 13,691

    I thought common bracken was Pteridium esculentum????

    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,272

    Apparently esculentum is found in the southern hemisphere but maybe it has hitched a ride north with visiting antipodean backpackers.

  • Denno666Denno666 Posts: 109

    Thank Ceres, do you know if it will have any impact on other plants? I was thinking of keeping them but now I'm not sure in case they compete too much.

  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,272

    My stepfather's garden was completely overgrown with the stuff and I had to use a sickle to cut it all down. Its best to eradicate it before it takes over plus there are mutterings about spores and cancer so I wouldn't have it in the garden.

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 21,670

    Bracken isn't really a garden plant, more a wild plant, it can be quite invasive and hard to get rid of. The woods here are full of it. And I think it's a bit toxic.

    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • Denno666Denno666 Posts: 109

    In that case, I think I'll get rid of them, or at least as best as I can - in the past my dad has pulled some up and they still came bac.

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