CRYPTOGAMIA— FILICES. Osmunda. 327 



Nat. Ord. Filices. Linn. 5.5. Juss. 5. 



Capsules clustered, distinct, separately stalked, naked, 

 nearly globular, striated with a protuberance but no 

 ring, of 1 cell, and 2 incomplete, equal valves, burst- 

 ing longitudinally, at one side. Cove)' none. Seeds 

 numerous, minute. 



Root tufted. Frond doubly pinnate, entire or serrated. 

 Leaflets partially changed to panicled dense clusters of 

 small capsides. 



1. O. 7'egalis. Common Osmund-royal. 



Leaflets oblong, nearly entire; dilated, and somewhat au- 

 ricled, at the base. Clusters panicled, terminal. 



O. regalis. Linn.Sp.Pl.\'j2\. miU.v.5.97. FLBr. WOS. Engl 

 Bot.v.S. t.209. Hook. Loml. I. 150. Scot. p. 2. 158. Bolt.FU.f). 

 t. 5. Fl. Dan. t.2\7. Ehrh. Crypt. 42. 



O. Filix florida. Lob. Ic. 813./. 



Filix ramosa, non dentata, florida. Bauh.Fin.3ij7. Ra'dSyn. 125. 



F. botryites, sive florida major, pinnulis non dentatis, ex adverso 

 nascentibus. Moris, v. 3. r)93, sect. 1 4. t. 4./. 1 . 



F. florida, sive Osmunda regalis. Ger. Em. 1 131./. 



F. majoris alterum genus. Trag. Hist. 543./. 



F. latifolia. Cord. Hist. 134. /'. 



F. palustris. Dod. Pempt. 4G3./. 



F. aquatica, et F. florescens. Dalech. Hist. 1225./,/ 



In deep watery bogs, woods, and meadows, not very common. 



Perennial. June, July. 



Root tuberous, hard, scaly, beset with numerous fibres, and having 

 in the centre a whitish core, which some persons, according to 

 Gerarde, have named the heart of Osmund the Water-man. 

 Fro)ids several, erect, two or three feet high, doubly pinnate, 

 smooth, bright green ; the primary divisions from six to ten, 

 nearly opposite, hardly a span long ; lenjiets more numerous, 

 oftendecidcdly alternate, sessile, or nearly so, oblong, bluntish, 

 entire, or obscurely crenate, with one rib, and numerous trans- 

 verse veins ■. the l)ase dilated, heart-shaped, or somewhat lobed. 

 Some of the upper leaflets are cut, and as it were partially irans- 

 muted into dense (lusters, or sjn/ics, of capsules, several of the 

 upper divisions of the frond consisting entirely of such ca/>sulcs, 

 composing a compound panitlc Each capsule is light brown, 

 veiny, su|)j)ortcd by a siiort stalk. Nothing h;Ls been discovered 

 o( the stigma, barren Jlowcrs, or mode of impregnation. The 

 seeds are numerous, nearly globular. 



The name of Osmunda appears to have originated in Kngland. 

 Osmund, in Saxon, is the proper name of a man. snid to mean 

 domestic peace : so that Osmunda is nearly cipiivalent to J.ysi- 



