Bracken is dangerous, carcinogenic, land-wasting, it is said. But Nick Baker, in the current BBC Wildkje magazine, argues that it has redeeming Features and could even he considered "a national treasure". It is very tough. Fire can sweep a huge area, reducing everything to ashes, but the bracken's huge underground system of rhizomes means that it rises, phoenix- like, and one single plant can cover a hillside again. Cattle and sheep won't eat it deliberately. In South America and China, in underdeveloped areas where bracken shoots are eaten as food, there is a high level of stomach cancer, he writes.
But the big danger, the writer concedes, is from the plant's spores, which can be carcinogenic. In suitable conditions these can travel great distances. Not all plants produce spores, and when they do, it's for a short period only. And "precautions can be taken to avoid breathing in the worst."
Masks.
Now for the good points, as he sees them. Bracken is a canopy for many delicate woodland plants. It is good for certain butterflies, and, "in the unrelenting heat of July and August" (ahem), it provides shade for deer, whinchats, foxes and nightjars.
That could be said, of course, of other plants. The irony of all the woe- saying is, as the writer points out, that the plant was in the past a valued resource in Britain, harvested annually on a large scale: for thatching, dyeing, for soap and glass production (he doesn't say how), for packing material for slates, fruit and fish.
In the latter case when the fronts were green. When dead it made bedding for livestock. It is said to be the third most important breeding habitat for nightjars.
Cuckoos, ouzels, pipits, many warbiers use it similarly.
A big plus now: if harvested before it dies off, it can make a peat substitute better than peat itself. All toxins are broken down and it is safe in the following spring. BUT: don't walk in bracken from late July to the end of August. If you do, wear a mask to avoid inhaling spores. You can also get dermatitis as well as risking the carcinogenic effect. Stay safe, advises our friend.
And one more hazard: bracken may be a habitat for sheep ticks. "Be aware of Lyme disease add take precautions against it."