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Contents : Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences Brevard County Extension Service Florida Cooperative Extension Service For more information call: 321-633-1702 jwalter@ufl.edu FACT SHEET #FS6119AG Date: May 2008 Bracken Fern A Potentially Deadly Plant Joe Walter Bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) photo taken at the Marcell Experimental Forest by Molly Cavaleri Many plants are potentially toxic to livestock under certain conditions. Bracken Fern if eaten is toxic to most farm animals under any conditions. Farm animals under normal conditions do not eat Bracken Fern but will eat it if available forage is low and the fern plants are young. Bracken Fern may flourish in areas that have been grown up with other plants and suddenly these plants are removed. Brevard County has experienced this situation with the wild fires. Some other situations that may present this condition are: right of ways for power transmission lines that are mowed after several years of growth or new land that is cleared exposing bare ground. The new leaves of the Bracken Fern are the most toxic and the most palatable to livestock. Bracken Fern is a perennial fern with a black horizontal branching root system that may extend several yards from the stem. Leaves arise directly from the rhizome are broadly triangular up to 6.5 feet in height bipinnately compound and heavily haired on the underside. Bracken Fern ingestion can cause symptomatic conditions after a long period of grazing or may cause rather sudden symptoms including death. In one recent case 6 cows died in a week four weeks after a electric transmission line was cleared after ten years of growth Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution and a heavy stand of young Bracken Fern began to grow. No previous death loss had occurred in this pasture. All animals were in excellent body condition and all were in the last 30 days of gestation. In horses pigs cattle goats and sheep thiamin deficiency retinal degeneration and blindness hemorrhaging and bone marrow destruction urinary bladder cancer and digestive tract cancer have been reported. In horses a nervous system disease resulting from the depletion of thiamin causes them to refuse to eat and rapidly lose weight. Depression uncoordinated gait muscle tremors and paralysis are typical of Bracken Fern poisoning. Rapid heart rate colic constipation anemia and blood in the urine may be exhibited. Bracken Fern can be controlled by spraying with Dicamba or Remedy. Because it has a very extensive underground rhizome system multiple applications of either of these herbicides may be necessary. For additional information or positive identification of this plant contact Joe Walter at 321-633-1702 or jwalter@ufl.edu. .

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