Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Freshwater wetland
Range: North America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Spores
Defense: Toxins
Status: Common

About

The sensitive fern gets its name from its extreme cold-sensitivity — fronds collapse and blacken with the season's first hard frost. It produces two distinct frond types: broad green sterile fronds and upright brown fertile fronds whose beadlike segments release spores and persist through winter.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Polypodiales
Family: Onocleaceae
Genus: Onoclea
Species: Onoclea sensibilis