OSMUNDACEAE. 



415 



1. Osmunda regalis L. EOYAL 

 FERN. (Fig. 449.) Eootstock stout, 

 bearing a cluster of tall bipinnate 

 leaves 2-6 high, and 1 or more 

 wide. Sterile pinnae 6'-l long, 

 the pinnules oblong-ovate or lance- 

 olate-oblong, sessile or slightly 

 stalked, glabrous, finely serrulate, 

 especially near the apex and occa- 

 sionally crenate towards the trun- 

 cate, oblique or cordate base ; sporo- 

 phylls linear-eylindric, panicled 

 at the summit, withering and 

 shrivelling with age, greenish 'be- 

 fore maturity, but becoming dark 

 brown after the spores have fallen. 



Common in the larger marshes. 

 Native. North America, Europe and 

 Asia. 



2. Osmunda cinnamomea L. 



CINNAMON FERN. (Fig. 450.) 

 Rootstock large, widely creeping, 

 bearing a circular cluster of sterile 

 leaves with one or more fertile 

 ones within or some leaves partly 

 sterile and partly fertile. Stipes 

 1 or more long, clothed with fer- 

 ruginous tomentum when young, 

 glabrous when old; sterile leaves 

 l-3 long, glabrous when mature, 

 except a small tuft of tomentum 

 at the base of each pinna; pinnae 

 linear-lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid 

 into oblong obtuse segments ; sporo- 

 phyll contracted, bipinnate, soon 

 withering; sporanges cinnamon- 

 colored after the copious green 

 spores have been discharged. 



Common in the larger marshes. 

 Native. Eastern North America to 

 Mexico. 



Family 2. POLYPODIACEAE R. Br. 

 FERX FAMILY. 



Ferns of various habit, the rootstocks horizontal and often elongated, 

 or short and erect, the leaves entire, pinnate, pinnatifid or decompound, 



