Ostrich Fern (struthiopteris), a genus of ferns, so called on account of the plume-like appearance of the fertile fronds. There is but one species in this country, S. Germanica, which is also a native of continental Europe, and there is probably one other in Japan. Ours is most frequent in northern localities and in alluvial soil. The sterile fronds, sometimes 5 ft. long, are pinnate with the very numerous pinnae pinnatiiid; they grow in a circular tuft from a thick rootstock, and form a vase-like cluster of great beauty; within this are the fertile fronds, much shorter than the sterile, and having the margin of their pinnae rolled hack to cove3r the fructification, they present a very different appearance from the others. This fern is readily recognized by the fertile fronds growing within a circle of sterile ones, and by its very symmetrical form; it does not grow quite so high as some of the flowering ferns (Osmimda). The European catalogues give 8. Pennsylmnica, but it is only this species under another name.

Ostrich Fern (Struthiopteris Gennanica).