652 FLOWERS OF GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE 
The typical species of this genus is Onoclea sensibilis, 
a North American plant, which has been in cultivation 
here for two hundred years. We have it on the evidence of Jacob 
Bobart, keeper of the Oxford Botanic Garden, that it was growing there 
in 1699, having been introduced from Virginia. 0. germanica is a 
native of Europe and North America, which was introduced by Peter 
Collinson in 1760. 0. orientalis is a much more recent addition to our 
ferneries, whose native habitat is Assam, Sikkim, and Japan. 
NOCLEA GERMANICA (German). Ostrich Fern. 
Rootstock erect, 9 inches high; also sending off under- 
ground branches to a distance of 6 or 7 feet, from which new crowns 
arise. Stipes short, enlarged at base and covered with blackish scales. 
Frond broad, lance-shaped, 3 to 5 feet long; pinne very numerous, the 
- largest about 5 inches long, lower ones short, turned downwards. The 
pinne are cut into many blunt, smooth-edged segments. The fertile or 
spore-bearing fronds are quite different, and usually about three in 
number, not produced until autumn. They are 1} to 2 feet long, with a 
broader, flatter rachis; the pinne are much contracted, pointing upwards, 
of a brown colour and a knotted appearance. Unrolling one of these fertile 
pinnz about September, the sori will be found to be round, several of 
them uniting into one mass. It is also known as Struthiopteris 
germanica and Onoclea Struthiopteris. Plate 307. 
QO. ORIENTALIS (Eastern). Fronds oval-oblong, not greatly 
narrowed at base, 1 to 14 foot long; pinnate. The fertile fronds are 
produced within the circle of barren ones, which they often exceed in 
length; pinne with margins curled back, dark purple-brown, glossy. 
Also known as Struthiopteris orientalis and S. japonica. 
O. SENSIBILIS (sensitive). Rootstock naked, creeping, and branch- 
ing extensively. Stipes 3 inches long. Fronds broad-triangular in 
outline, divided into oblong, lance-shaped pinnew, which are entire or 
wavy-toothed. The fertile fronds are twice-pinnate, but the pinnules 
are curved back over the sori, and the pinne thus have a rounded 
appearance. Its sensibility consists in its fronds withering as though 
scorched on being handled slightly. 
Onoclea germanica and O. orientalis succeed best in 
a soil of a good strong loamy character, to which leaf- 
mould is added. 0. sensibilis does better in a soil that consists almost 
entirely of leaf-mould and sand. In such a soil it will make rapid 
headway, sending out creeping branches in all directions, and, filling up 
the pot with its roots, will creep over the rim and down the side. 
Although this species is hardy, like the others, yet it is best grown in a 
History. 
Species. 
Cultivation. 
