If you’ve studied plant migrations, you no doubt realize that many North American species, also have nearly identical Asian counterparts. One such plant is our native sensitive fern, Onoclea sensibilis. In the US, it can be found throughout most of the Eastern US, but we wanted to compare it to its’ Asian sibling, Onoclea sensibilis var. interrupta. Below is our garden specimen from a Japanese population. As you can see, it looks almost identical in appearance to the North American material, pictured below. Despite what you often hear from botanical segregationists, insects, and wildlife that feed on plants or use them for their life cycle, actually don’t care where the plants are from. The next time you’re being chased by a hungry Grizzly Bear, and it stops to ask your ethnicity before devouring you for lunch, please be sure to let me know.
Below is the Onoclea sensibilis ‘Supersize’, our clonal collection from South Carolina.
Love it! Especially the Grizzly analogy.