A dense forest floor covered in a thick carpet of brown Bracken, with tall, towering oak trees casting dappled shadows overhead. Fallen branches and decaying leaves litter the ground, adding to the sense of natural decay and renewal.

Bracken, Oaks, and their Folklore

Brackenā€”our most invasiveĀ ground cover, steadily browning itself to perfection. How marvellously it complements this oak woodland on Cockle Scar, on the west-facing slope of Roseberry. Who needs daffodils or bluebells when you can have a decaying fern carpeting your view?

And did you know that bracken is charmingly referred to as the ā€˜oak fernā€™? Apparently, if you cut through its stem, you might see a picture of an oak tree. How quaint. Linnaeus, that good man with an eye for the dramatic, saw an imperial eagle instead and promptly christened the stuff Pteridium aquilinum. Others claimed you might divine the initials of your future spouse within its mutilated fibres. Orā€”if heaven were in a particularly jovial moodā€”one might discern ā€œJCā€ himself. Well, who could resist such entertainment? You can see what you want to see, after all.

When one speaks of trees, the oak is crowned King. The Anglo-Saxons called it ā€˜ac,ā€™ while the Welsh, with characteristic reverence, named it ā€˜derw,ā€™ thus giving birth to the title ā€˜Druid,ā€™ or, as some scholars would have it, ā€˜oak wisdom.ā€™ The Druids, of course, with their quaint superstitions, held the oak in the highest regard, particularly if it happened to harbour that parasitic delight, mistletoe. Oak trees, they believed, embodied strength and truth, which is all terribly noble, though one wonders where those mythical fairies who supposedly took up summer residence in the trees fled during the less accommodating winter months. Perhaps they had second homes in the south of France.

The oak leaves, meanwhile, have taken to fallowing. They linger on the branch in indecision, not yet inclined to fall. The acorns, those delightfully bitter fruits, take their time, too. It seems one cannot expect a respectable crop before the tree reaches the distinguished age of forty, and even then, peak performance doesnā€™t occur until eighty or beyond. Quite a leisurely affair. Still, who could doubt the ancient wisdom surrounding these little acorns? Carry one and you might stave off disease. Plant one during a new moon and, with any luck, wealth will shower upon you. And let us not forgetā€”placing an acorn in a window is a guaranteed method of averting lightning. Quite practical, really.


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