26 
BRITISH FERNS. 
Onoclea sensibilis. Sensitive Onoclea. Caudex creep- 
ing ; barren fronds triangular, glossy, pinnate, of a most 
beautiful delicate green colour ; the pinnse with lobed 
margins; fertile fronds bipinnate, contracted, shorter 
than the barren ones, the leaflets curling over the spore- 
cases. 1 to 2 feet high. This elegant and freely-grow- 
ing fern is a native of North America; it can bear a fair 
amount of shade, flourishing well in a wood where the 
trees do not stand too thick, its caudex creeping freely 
amongst the leaf-mould. It should not be absent from 
any good fernery. 
Osmunda Claytoniana . Clayton’s Osmunda . Eronds 
bipinnate, those in the centre of the cluster contracted 
towards the middle by fruitful pinnae ; the centre fronds 
stand erect, thus displaying the curious contraction of 
the pinnules along the middle pinnae, which give an in- 
terrupted appearance to the frond, earning for the fern 
at one time the name interrupta ; the upper pinnae are 
as much expanded as the lower ones, and look like fea- 
thers waving above the contracted part ; around the cir- 
cumference of the group the long lance-shaped, barren 
fronds are ranged, bending outwards in a variety of 
graceful arches. They are of a beautiful vivid green 
colour, and render the fern a very favourite one. 
Osmunda cinnamomea. Cinnamon-coloured Osmunda . 
The fertile fronds rise perpendicularly in the centre 
of a circle formed by the gracefully drooping barren 
ones ; the fertile fronds are bipinnate, and covered with 
dense rush coloured hairs,— thus they look like a group 
of erect reddish-brown fronds. The barren fronds are 
narrow, only measuring about 7 inches across in the 
widest part, and narrow off to a fine point at the apex, 
in height they measure above 30 inches; they have 
