POLYPODIACEAE (FERN FAMILY) 19 
Range: Eastern North America from Newfoundland to Florida 
and westward to the Mississippi River and in some states west. 
Habitat: Moist soil; wet meadows, pastures, fields, and woods. 
Ferns are usually associated with woodlands and thickets, and, 
though this one may be found in such places, it is equally well 
suited when growing in open ground, provided the soil is not dry. 
The plant frequents the society of the Field Horsetail and has a 
bad name with horsemen and sheep-keepers because of such com- 
pany. But those who have carefully investigated the matter say 
that the fern is not poisonous, thé less noticeable Horsetail being 
responsible for the mischief gener- 
ally attributed to it. (Fig. 2). 
The plant springs from a creep- 
ing rootstock which is about a third 
of an inch in thickness and grows 
not far below the surface, branch- 
ing often and producing new fronds 
all summer until checked by frost, 
to which it is very sensitive. It is 
a rather coarse-looking plant, six 
inches to three feet high, the whole 
frond nearly triangular in outline 
but divided into oblong, lance- 
shaped, coarsely scalloped segments 
at the end of a'long stipe, or stalk. 
The leaf is light green and withers 
quickly when plucked. The fruit- 
ing fronds are much shorter than 
the sterile ones; they are twice 
pinnate, but the segments, or pin- 
nules, are at first so tightly rolled as S 
to completely hide the sporangia and \ 
look like rows of green berries at- 
tached to the midrib ; later they turn 
from green to brown, and remain 
stiffly standing all winter, after the green sterile fronds are withered 
and gone. Indeed, the fruiting fronds of two or three successive 
Fic. 2.— Sensitive Fern (Onoclea 
sensibilis). x 3. 
