From the CO2Science archive: Seriously? Ladder Brake? Who comes up with these names? There is such a thing as a ladder brake, and it looks nothing like the tropical fern Pteris vittata, nor we surmise would a handful of fern leaves be much help if you needed to stop an extension ladder from collapsing unexpectedly while cleaning leaves out of your eavestrough. But if it’s foliage you want, the plant will work fine assuming you are in a hot country. And if you happen to have lots of CO2 even better. In 2008 there were 3 experiments showing that an additional 300 ppm CO2 boosted Ladder Brake’s growth an average of 38.3 percent.