PTERIDOPHYTA— FERNS 



321 



Fig.- 124. Flowering Fern {Osmunda Clay- 

 toniana). Reported as poisonous. (Ada Hayden). 



Distribution. Moist meadows and thickets from Newfoundland to Florida 

 and Minnesota. 



Poisonous properties. Very abundant in hay from low meadows. May be 

 injurious. 



Onoclca Struihiopteris. (L.) Hoffman. Ostrich Fern 



Fronds growing in a crown; root stocks stoloniferous; sterile, short stalked, 

 2-10 feet high, broadly lanceolate; pinnae pinnatifid, veins free, the veinlets 

 simple ; fertile frond shorter, pinnate with pod-like or somewhat necklace- 

 shaped pinnae. 



Distribution. Nova Scotia to Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and British Colum- 

 bia, common also in Europe and Asia. 



OSMUNDACEAE 



Large ferns, root stocks frequently stout and erect; leaves 1-2 pinnate, 

 coiled in vernation ; veins free, mostly forked, running to the margins of the 

 pinnules or lobes; sporangia large, globose with mere traces of a ring, or 

 none, borne on contracted pinnae, on the lower surface of the pinnules. 

 Three genera. 



