Friday, August 14, 2015

Sensitive Fern or Bead Fern

This is another tentative identification.  There was a group or clump of ferns on the southwest corner of Cloverlea and Rolandvue(near the street sign).  This would be characteristic as the sensitive fern grows from a single creeping rhizome. More usual in swamp or shade will tolerate sun if moist soil.
It is a pioneer species which may be consistent with the occasional cutting of this area. Native to North America, the name derives from its sensitivity to the first frost.

While gardeners worry about 10 hardiness zones, this fern grows from Labrador to Florida. The fertile frond will have dark beads.  More decorative, not mentioned as either medicinal or edible in my three handiest guides.

Wiki mentions the finely interlacing veins,possibly illustrated below.  We were looking at the vein pattern of Fireweed and happened to have the Sensitive Fern leaf on the light box.

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