Translations:AY Honors/Ferns/Answer Key/28/en

Onoclea sensibilis

Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis)

Where found: This fern dwells in a variety of wet swamp and wood habitats: wet meadows, thickets and bogs, as well as stream and riverbanks and roadside ditches. It ranges from Newfoundland to Florida and west to Texas, North Dakota and Manitoba, but is also native to east Asia and has become naturalized in western Europe.

Description: The Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis), also known as the Bead fern, is a coarse-textured, medium to large-sized perennial fern. The name comes from the observation by early settlers that it was very sensitive to frost, the fronds dying quickly when first touched by it. The sterile and fertile fronds of this fern are quite different. The bright, yellow-green sterile fronds are deeply pinnatifid and are typically borne at intervals along a creeping rhizome. They grow to about 90 cm long, with a long, smooth stipe. The fertile fronds are much smaller, non-green, and have very narrow pinnae. The sori are clustered like beads or grapes on the upright fertile fronds, hence the common name Bead fern. The fiddleheads are a pale red color.