Sensitive fern
Onoclea sensibilis L.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 46 cm
- wide
- 76 cm
Aspleniaceae
Also called Bead fern
Formerly Angiopteris sensibilis, Calypterium sensibile, Pterinodes sensibilis, Riedlea sensibilis
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Perennial or rhizomatous geophyteKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- C. & E. Canada to N., C. & E. U.S.A., SE. Siberia to Japan and ChinaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 30 cm to 61 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Spread
- 61 cm to 91 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -45.6 °C (USDA zone 2a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: flowers, heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- German
- Straußfarn
- root
- ONOSEN
- French
- onoclée sensible
- Portuguese
- samambaia-sensível
- Danish
- druebregne
- Finnish
- helmisaniainen
- Russian
- Оноклея чувствительная
- Korean
- 야산고비
- Ojibwa
- a'nana'ganûck
- Japanese
- コウヤワラビ(広義)
- Estonian
- harilik pärljalg
- Chinese (China)
- 球子蕨
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-26, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-26, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-26, CC BY
- 3D model: Onoclea sensibilis (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.