FERN FAMILY. 



i. Onoclea sensibilis L. Sensitive Fern. 

 (Fig. H-) 



Onoclea senxih ilis L. Sp. PI. 1062. 1753. 



Rootstock rather slender, copiously rooting ; fer- 

 tile leaves i-2^ high, persistent over winter, 

 much contracted, and with short pinnules rolled 

 up into berry-like closed involucres forming a nar- 

 row panicle ; sterile leaves i-4% high, broadly 

 triangular, deeply pinnatifid, the segments lanceo- 

 late-oblong, entire, undulate, or the lower pairs 

 sinuate-pinnatifid ; veins freely anastomosing ; low- 

 est segments tapering both ways from the middle ; 

 veins forming a somewhat regular series of semi- 

 elliptic areoles next the midvein and numerous 

 smaller areoles between this series and the margin. 



In moist soil, Newfoundland and Ontario to the 

 Northwest Territory, south to Florida, Louisiana and 

 Kansas. Ascends to 3000 ft. in Virginia. Various in 

 termediate forms between the sterile and fertile leaves 

 occur. Sensitive to early frosts. Aug.-Nov 



2. Onoclea Struthiopteris I. Hoffm. 

 Ostrich Fern : 



Osmunds Strnthit>t,-i-is I. Sp. IM. n*V. 



Onoclea Slru(hi<if>tt-i-is HotTm. Dt-ut^-h H i it 

 1795- 



Rootstock stout, ascending, bearing a circle 

 of sterile leaves with one or more fertile one* 

 within. Fertile leaves i-i', hij{h. simply 

 pinnate with necklace-shaped pinnae which are 

 formed of the closely revolute margins; sori 

 crowded and confluent ; sterile leaves a-7* 

 high, 6 / -i5 / wide, broadly lanceolate, pin- 

 nate, much the broadest above the middle and 

 gradually tapering below, the lower pinnae 

 being gradually much reduced; veins pin- 

 nate, free and simple ; 'exture firm ; rootstock* 

 stoloniferous. 



In moist thick. ' am*. Nova 



Scotia to New Jersey, u 

 Illinois. Ascein: 

 Europe and Asia. Juh 



2. WOODSIA R. Br. Trans. Linn. Soc. 11:17.). ' 



Small or medium-sized ferns, growing in rocky places, with i-2-pinnate or pinn 

 leaves and round sori borne on the backs of simply forked free veins. Indusia inferior. 

 thin and often evanescent, roundish or stellate, either small and open or early banting at 

 the top into irregular lobes or segments. Stipes often jointed above the base and aton- 

 al the joint. [Name in honor of Joseph Woods, 1776-1864, English architect and botanist.] 



About 15 species, natives of temperate and cold regions. Besides the following. anoth< 

 curs in the southwestern United States. 

 Indusium minute or evanescent, flat, concealed beneath the sorus, its margin d >ndr 



hair-like segments. 



Stipes obscurely jointed near the base; cilia of the iwlusium inf. ofUMK* 



Leaves with more or less rusty chaff underneath. i " 



Leaves glabrous or nearly so. 



Leaf lanceolate, not tapering below; pinnae cordate 

 Leaf linear or linear-oblong, often tapering both ways; pinnae '. 

 Stipes not jointed; cilia of the indusitim very short, hidden by the sporange*. 

 Puberulent; indusium deeply cleft, ending in hairs with cylindric cells 

 Leaves and stipes glabrous ; indusium divided to centre into beaded hair*. 

 Itidusium distinct, at first enclosing the sporanges, splitting into jagKvd lobe*. 



