Bracken is a species of European fern in the family Fern family, which can reach a height of up to 1 meter.
Bracken rhizomes are long and transverse, densely covered with rusty yellow hairs that gradually fall off.
Bracken leaves are distant; stalk length 20-80 cm, base thickness 3-6 mm, brown brown or brown grass stalk color, slightly glossy, smooth, with a shallow longitudinal groove on it; the leaves are broad triangular or oblong triangle, 30-60 cm long, 20-45 cm wide, tapering at the apex, the base is rounded and wedge-shaped, three pinnates; pinnae 4-6 pairs, paraphyletic or near-opposite, oblique, the base of a pair of the largest (upward pairs slightly smaller), triangular, 15-25 cm long, 14-18 cm wide, the stem length of about 3-5 cm, quadruplic pinnate Small pinnae about 10 pairs, alternate, obliquely spread, lanceolate, 6-10 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm wide, caudal tapering at the apex (slightly wedge-shaped contraction at the base of the tip of the tail), nearly flattened at the base, with a short stalk, a pinnate; lobes 10–15 pairs, flattened, close to each other, oblong, about 14 mm long, about 5 mm wide, blunt or nearly round, the base is not synygotic with the small feather shaft, separated, full margin; the pinnae above the middle gradually becomes a pinnate, long lanceolate, the base is wider, symmetrical, the apex-like, the small pinnae is homomorphic with the lobes of the lower pinnae, and the lower part of some small pinnae has 1-3 pairs of shallow lobes or the edge has wavy round teeth. The leaf veins are dense and only the underside is obvious.
Bracken leaves are dried nearly leathery or leathery, dark green, glabrous on the top, and more or less brown or grayish-white hairy or nearly hairless on the main vein of the lobe below. The leaf shaft and feather shaft are smooth, the upper part of the small feather shaft is smooth, the bottom is sparsely hairy, there are few dense hairs, and there is a deep longitudinal groove above each feather shaft, and there is no hair in the ditch.
When the bracken grows about 20 cm above the ground, the newly emerging top leaves have not yet unfolded, like a "fist", it should be harvested in time. Early harvesting yields, late harvesting and high temperature drought will age stem cellulose and affect the quality of fresh ferns.
Bracken leaf buds and young stems are rich in nutrients, rich in a variety of vitamins needed by the human body, bracken contains 0.43 grams of protein, 0.39 grams of fat, 3.6 grams of sugars, 0.45 grams of organic acids and so on per 100 grams of fresh products. The edible part of bracken is the unexplored young stems and leaves, often using fresh and dried products to stir-fry vegetables to make soup, bracken before eating after boiling water, and then immersed in cool water to remove odor, you can eat. The treated bracken tastes fragrant and smooth, and then mixed with condiments to cool the mouth, it is a typical green food. The rhizomes of bracken contain 35-40% starch and can be extracted from fern powder as a nourishing food. The rhizome of the fern can also be used medicinally.
Bracken is distributed throughout China, but is mainly produced in the Yangtze River Basin and north of the Yangtze River Basin, growing at altitudes of 200-830 meters above sea level on mountain slopes and sunny areas on forest edges.
The starch extracted from this kind of rhizome is called fern powder, for consumption, the fiber of the rhizome can be made into rope and cable, can tolerate water and moisture, and the young leaves are edible, called bracken; the whole plant is medicated.
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