Index / Search / Pteridium aquilinum
§1 Plant
Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn
vernacular western brackenfern — species · Dennstaedtiaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Fern
- Family
- Dennstaedtiaceae Lotsy
- Genus
- Pteridium
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Native
- CAN Canada Native
- HI Hawaii Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
- SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Native
§2b
County-level range
· 4 counties across 2 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -43 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 90 min.
- Precipitation
- 16–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 4.5–7
- Root depth
- 10 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 6.6 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Dark Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Porous
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Green
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- Slight
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Moderate
- Stratify
- No
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, bulb, sprigs
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 4 counties across 2 states/territories.
Montana view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Rhode Island view state ↗ 3 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/PTAQ ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/5275012 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z