OSTRICH FERN 651 
polished red-brown, black at base, not scaly. Frond 6 to 12 inches long, 
of nearly equal width (about $ inch) throughout. Pinneze oval, fifteen to 
forty in number, about } inch long. Rachis rigid, chestnut-brown. Sori 
short, oblique, with ils brown involucre. Native. Hardy 
A. VIVIPARUM (bearing live plants). Stipes tufted, 6 to 9 inches 
long. Fronds 1 to 2 feet long, 6 to 8 inches across, oval, lance-shaped ; 
pinnee numerous and crowded, 3 to 4 inches long; pinnules deeply and 
pinnately lobed. Sori solitary, marginal. Surface of frond producing 
a large number of young plants. Mauritius, 1820. Greenhouse. 
The cultural directions given for Aspidiwm apply 
generally to <Aspleniwm. e stove and greenhouse 
species should be potted in the peat-loam-sand compost, whilst the 
hardy species do well in a mixture of peat and sand, or leaf-mould and 
sand. <A. Filix-femina must have plenty of free moisture, or its fronds 
will rapidly wither and never recover. A. Ceterach and A. Trichomanes 
naturally grow in the mortar of old walls, and old mortar and brick 
rubbish should be mixed in the potting soil, which should be built up 
above the rim of pot. A. marinuwm grows above sea-caves, often with 
its rootstock squeezed into fissures of the rock, and this position should 
be imitated in cultivation. Propagation is effected by dividing the 
rootstock when two or more crowns have been formed; by the buds 
(“bulbils”) developed on the fronds of many species, or by raising spores 
as instructed under Aspidium. 
Description of Asplenium Nidus, the Bird’s-nest Fern, reduced to 
306. about one-sixth of its natural proportions. This is the 
largest known Fern having undivided fronds. Fig. 1 is a portion of a 
frond showing the back, with the sori. 
Cultivation 
OSTRICH - FERN 
Natural Order Finices. Genus Onoclea 
OnocLEA (Greek, onos, a beaker, and Zleio, to close: in allusion to 
the rolled up pinne of the fertile fronds and the shape of the involucre). 
A genus of three species of hardy Ferns, whose spore-bearing (fertile) 
fronds have the margins of the pinne rolled in to the midrib behind, 
entirely concealing the fructification. The sori are round, on the veins 
of the pinne, and the involucre is hood-like, or half-cup-shaped, 
originating from the under side of the sorus. They are natives of the 
Cold and Temperate Regions. 
