Sensitive fern

The sensitive fern is one of the few modern fern species for which fossils have been found. Its name refers to the plant’s marked sensitivity to frost: its fronds wither at the first autumn frost.

Like ostrich fern, sensitive fern has two types of leaves, or fronds:

• The fertile fronds are brown and dry and leathery looking.
• The sterile fronds (30-150 cm) are not very deeply cut, unlike those of most ferns. They rise singly from the underground root, or rhizome, and do not form a crown.