4 OSMUNDACEAE 



2. Trichomaiies sphenoides Kunze. Eootstock matted, slender, creeping, 

 dark bristly radiculose. Leaves crowded, variable, the margins with stellate reflexed 

 hairs; blades sessile or stalked, commonly elliptical to irregularly ovate, 5-15 mm. 

 long, 2-10 mm. broad, crenate or variously incised: indusia partially immersed. 



On trees and rocks in hammocks, southern peninsular Florida. Also in tropical America. 



3. Trichomaiies Kraussii Hook. & Grev. Rootstock matted, widely creeping, 

 slender, densely radiculose. Leaves scattered; petioles short, bristly, sometimes winged 

 above; blades variable, elliptic-spatulate to broadly oblong, 1.5-2 cm. long, 5-12 mm. 

 broad, deeply pinnatifid, the rachis thus narrowly winged, the segments linear to 

 oblong, toothed or the lower ones deeply lobed, each sinus bearing a small black 

 stellate hair: indusia usually numerous, winged or partially immersed. 



On trees and rocks in hammocks, southern peninsular Florida. Also in tropical America. 



4. Trichomanes Boschianum Sturm. Eootstocks wiry, tomentose. Leaves as- 

 cending; petioles 2.5-7.5 cm. long, naked or nearly so; blades 5-20 cm. long, 1.5-3.3 

 cm. wide, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 2-3 -pinnatifid: leaflets ovate, obtuse, the 

 upper side of the cuneate base parallel to the winged rachis; segments toothed or cut 

 into linear divisions: indusia 1-4 to a segment. [T. radicans A. Gray, not Sw.] 



On wet rocks, Kentucky to Alabama and Florida. 



FAMILY 2. OSMUNDACEAE E. Br. CINNAMON FERN FAMILY. 



Large plants, with creeping or suberect roostocks. Leaves erect or spread- 

 ing: blades 1-2-pinnate: veins free, mostly forked, extending to the margins. 

 Sporanges naked, large, globose, borne on modified contracted leaflets, or in 

 clusters (sori) on the lower surface of the leaflets, opening in 2 valves by a 

 longitudinal slit; ring few-celled or wanting. 



1. OSMUNDA L. 



Tall swamp or lowland plants, the leaves in large crowns, with the fertile (spore- 

 bearing) portions very much contracted and devoid of chlorophyll, the short-stalked 

 sporanges thin, reticulated, opening in halves, a few parallel thickened cells near the 

 apex representing the rudimentary transverse ring. Spores copious, greenish. 



Leaf-blades 2-pinnate, fertile at the apex. 1. O. regalis. 



Leaf-blades 2-pinnatifid, wholly or partially fertile, or sterile. 



Leaflets of sterile leaf with a tuft of tomentum at the base; fertile leaf norm- 

 ally differing from the sterile. 2. O. cinnamomea. 

 Leaflets of sterile leaf without a tuft of tomentum at the base; leaves fertile 



in the middle. 3. 0. Claytoniana. 



1. Osmund a regalis L. Leaves 6-20 dm. high; blades 2-pinnate, the leaflets 

 1.5-3 dm. long, 5-10 cm. wide, their segments oblong-ovate, or lanceolate-oblong, 

 sessile or slightly stalked, serrulate: fertile segments linear-cylindrie, panicled, 

 greenish before maturity, dark-brown and withering with age. [0. spectabilis Willd.] 



In swamps and marshes, New Brunswick to Nebraska, Florida and Mississippi. Also in 

 Mexico, the West Indies, South America, Europe and Asia. May-July. ROYAL FERN. 



2. Osmunda cinnamomea L. Eootstock widely creeping. Leaves erect or 

 nearly so, one or several fertile leaves borne within the crown of sterile ones ; petioles 

 3 dm. long, or longer, at first densely rusty tomentose, glabrous with age ; blades 3-12 

 dm. long, the leaflets linear-lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid, the segments oblong, obtuse : 

 sporophyl 2-pinnate, soon withering: sporanges cinnamon-colored. 



In wet places, Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to the Gulf States and New Mexico. 

 Also in tropical America and Asia. May-June. CINNAMON FERN. Forms occur with leaves 

 variously intermediate between the sterile and fertile. 



3. Osmunda Claytoniana L. Eootstoek stout, creeping. Leaves arching, some 

 of them fertile in the middle, these taller than the sterile, 6-20 dm. long, 1.5-2.5 dm. 

 broad; blades 2-pinnatifid, the sterile leaflets linear-lanceolate, deeply cleft, the 

 segments ovate-oblong, close or slightly imbricated, entire or nearly so, rarely 

 incised; fertile pinnae 2-5 pairs, pinnate, the eylindric divisions very close, greenish 

 at first, dark brown, brittle and withering with age. 



In moist or shaded places, Newfoundland to Minnesota, North Carolina and Missouri. 

 May-July. Also in China and India. INTERRUPTED FERN. 



