' V 'V 'HU
' 'il
i'l, > ' I
, ') u
'' I
« -I-
!'i 1
' / .I I I '
V I ... i.
M
• r ! I
lii)
1 1
v T -
| fi ii !" '
L i'''"
iî II I
I f
4 1
'Î
L ,
Onoclea Struthiopteris, H o f fm a n n , •“ Deutschlands Flora, p. i i ( 17 9 5 ).”—
S w a r t z , Syn. Fil., p . i i i . — W k b e r & M o h r , Taschenbuch,
p. 47, t. iv., f. 3, 4 .— Sci-iKUiiR, Krypt. Gew., p. 97, t. 105.—
M et t 'E n iu s , Fil. Hort. Lips., p. 97, t. xvii., f. 1 1 - 1 5 . — M i l d e ,
Fil. Eur. et Atlant., p . 1 5 4 .
Onoclea nodulosa, S c h k u h r , Krypt. Gew., p. 9 7 , t. 1 0 4 (Perhaps also
of Michaux, but this is still uncertain).
Onoclea Germanica, H o o k e r , Sp. F il, iv., p. 1 6 1 .— H o o k e r & B a k e r ,
Syn. Fil., p. 46.
Osiminda Struthiopteris, L in n æ u s , Sp. PL, p. 1522.
Struthiopteris Gerinanica, W i l l d e n o w , “ Enum, p. 1 0 7 1 ; ” Sp. PL, v.,
p. 288.— L i n k , Eil. Hort. Berol., p. 38.— H o o k e r , Fl. Bor.-Am.,
11., p. 262.— T o r r e y , Fl. New Y o rk , ii., p. 4 8 6 .— G ra y , Manual,
ed. i., p. 62 3, e tc .— K o ch , Syn. FL Germ, et Helv., ed.
111., p. 739. — W i l l ia m s o n , Fern-Etchings, t. 44.
Strzithiopteris Pennsylvanica, W i l l d e n o w , Sp. P L , v., p. 2 8 9 . — P u r s h ,
FL Am. Sept., ii., p. 266.— T o r r e y , Compendium, p. 38 5 .—
B ig e l o w , FI. Boston., ed. iii., p. 421.
Strîithiopteris, the genus only, W i l l d e n o w , in Berl. Mag., 1 8 0 9 , p . 1 6 0 .
H a b .— Low grounds, especially in fine alluvial soil subject to the
overflow of rivers; from the Saskatchewan and Lake Winnipeg to New
Brunswick, and southward to Pennsylvania and Illinois. Mentioned by
A l e x a n d e r B r a u n as coming from Arkansas. From Lapland to Sicily,
and eastward to the Amoor region, Sachalin and Kamtschatha. Not
known in the western parts of either Europe or America.
D e s c r ip t io n :— The ostrich-fern is one of our finest ferns,
being surpassed in grandeur only by Acrostiehum aureum,
Woodwardia radicans, and perhaps Osmunda regalis. The
plant is propagated chiefiy by long and slender stolons, bearing
appressed rudimentary stalk-bases. These stolons are
said by Sachs to originate from buds formed on the stalks
near the base: they run underground for several inches or a
foot, and at the end rise to the surface and there thicken into
a short erect caudex, covered by imbricating stalk-bases, and
throwing up from the apex a grand vase-like circle of foliage,
which is often higher than a man’s head, and sometimes extends
above his utmost reach.
The stalks are seldom over a foot long; they are fiat-
tened, blackish, and chaffy at the base, but above ground
they are green, drying dull-brown, somewhat four-sided, and
deeply channelled in front, when dried furrowed on the sides
also. They contain two fiattened fibro-vascular bundles. The
stalks of the sterile fronds are rather longer than the others,
but more rigid, and remain erect till the second yeai-.
The sterile fronds are oblong-lanceolate in outline, gradually
narrowed to the base from near the middle and abruptly
short acuminate. The pinnæ are usually of nearly equal
breadth from the base to beyond the middle. They are pinnatifid
to within a line of the midrib into numerous oblong
and obtuse segments, the veins of which are free, simple and
pinnately arranged on a midvein.
The fertile fronds are produced, late in the summer, and
are contracted, much shorter than the others, and very rigid.
The pinnæ are sometimes nearly entire, and in other examples
pinnately lobed. The margins are very much recurved,
♦ ? I
I 4
lit
G lil
' i , . l
I Hi
I'TJ