GENUS i. 



FERN FAMILY. 



1 1 



i. Onoclea sensibilis L. 

 Fig. 21. 



Sensitive Fern. 



Onoclea sensibilis L. Sp. PI. 1062. 1753. 



Rootstock rather slender, copiously rooting. Fer- 

 tile leaves i-2J high, persistent over winter, the 

 fertile portion bipinnate, much contracted, the short 

 pinnules rolled up into closed berry-like bodies and 

 forming a narrow close panicle. Sterile leaves i-4i 

 high, the blades broadly triangular, deeply pinnatifid, 

 the rachis winged ; pinnae lanceolate-oblong, entire, 

 undulate, or the lower and sometimes the middle 

 ones sinuate-pinnatifid; veins freely anastomosing, 

 forming a somewhat regular series of narrow elon- 

 gate areoles next the midvein and numerous smaller 

 areoles between this series and the margin. 



In moist soil, Newfoundland to Saskatchewan, south 

 to Oklahoma and the Gulf states. Ascends to 3000 ft. 

 in Virginia. Various intermediate forms between the 

 sterile and fertile leaves occur. Sensitive to early 

 frosts. Aug.-Nov. 



2. MATTEUCCIA Toclaro, Giorn. Sci. Nat. Palermo i : 235. 1866. 

 [STRUTHIOPTERIS Willd. 1809, not Weiss, 17/0.! 



Coarse lowland ferns with dissimilar leaves in a close crown upon a stout ascending 

 rootstock. Sterile leaves tall, in a complete circle, the shorter fertile leaves appearing late 

 in the season, borne within, rigidly erect, the pinnae closely contracted into necklace-like or 

 pod-like divisions, these concealing the sori, finally dehiscent. Sori roundish, on elevated 

 cylindrical receptacles, partly covered by delicate fugacious lacerate indusia attached below. 

 [Xamed in honor of Carlo Matteucci, an Italian professor of physics.] 



Species 3, the following, which is the generic type, and 2 Asiatic species. 



i. Matteuccia Struthiopteris (L.) Todaro. 

 Ostrich-fern. Fig. 22. 



Osmtinda Struthiopteris L. Sp. PI. 1066. 1753. 

 Onoclea Struthiopteris Hoffm. Deutsch. Fl. 2: n. 



I79S- 



Struthiopteris germanica Willd. Enum. 1071. 1809. 

 Matteuccia Struthiopteris Todaro, Giorn. Sci. Nat. 



Palermo i : 235. 1866. 



Rootstock stout, ascending, with slender under- 

 ground stolons. Fertile leaves i-ii high, the 

 pinnae dark brown, slightly crenate, contracted, 

 with closely and widely revolute margins, the 

 included sori crowded and confluent. Sterile 

 leaves 2-7 high, 6'-i5' broad, broadly oblan- 

 ceolate or spatulate, abruptly short-acuminate, 

 gradually narrowed below the middle, the lower 

 pinnae greatly reduced ; pinnae narrow, deeply 

 pinnatifid, glabrous, the segments oblong, obtuse, 

 entire. 



In moist thickets, especially along streams. Nova 

 Scotia to Virginia, west to British Columbia and 

 Iowa. Ascends to 2000 ft. in Vermont. Also in 

 Europe and Asia. July-Oct. 



3. WOODSIA R. Br. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. i : 158. 1810. 



Small or medium-sized ferns, growing in rocky places, the rootstocks in dense tufts. 

 Leaves numerous, the stipes often jointed above the base and separable, the blades i-2-pinnate 

 or deeply 3-pinnatifid. Sori roundish, borne on the simply-forked free veins. Indusia slight 

 and often evanescent, inferior in attachment, either roundish and soon cleft into irregularly 



