[Illustration: Sensitive Fern. _Onoclea sensibilis_]

[Illustration: Sensitive Fern, Fertile and Sterile Fronds on one
Stock _Onoclea sensibilis_ (From the collection of Mr. and Mrs. L.P.
Breckenridge)]


[Illustration: Ostrich Fern. _Onoclea Struthiopteris_. Fertile Fronds]

(2) OSTRICH FERN

_Onoclea struthiópteris_. PTERETIS NODULOSA

_Struthiópteris Germánica_. _Matteùccia struthiópteris_

Fronds two to eight feet high, growing in a crown; broadly lanceolate,
pinnate, the numerous pinnæ deeply pinnatifid, narrowed toward the
channeled stipe. Fertile fronds shorter, pinnate with margins of the pinnæ
revolute into a necklace form containing the sori.

[Illustration: Ostrich Fern. Sterile Fronds (New Hampshire)]

The rootstocks send out slender, underground stolons which bear fronds the
next year. Sterile fronds appear throughout the summer, fertile ones in
July. Seen from a distance its graceful leaf-crowns resemble those of the
cinnamon fern. An intermediate form between the fertile and sterile fronds
is sometimes found, as in the sensitive fern. This handsome species
thrives under cultivation. For grace and dignity it is unrivaled, and for
aggressiveness it is, perhaps, equaled only by the lady fern. For the
climax of beauty it should be combined with the maidenhair. The ostrich