1178 



OSMORHIZA 



OSTROWSKIA 



glabrous or bristly; carpel slightly flattened dorsally or 

 not at all; styles long or short; seed-face from slightly 

 concave to deeply sulcate. Coulter and Rose, Monograph 

 of North American Umbelliferae, 1900. The generic 

 name is also spelled Osmorrhiza. 



A. Fr. ivith prominent caudate attenuation (2-4 lines 



long) at base, very bristly. 

 B. Style a line or more long. 



longistylis, DC. Stout, glabrous or slightly pubes- 

 cent. Canada to Va. and west to Dakota. B.B. 2:530. 

 Roots with a stronger smell and taste of anise than O. 

 brevistylis. Brotherton says it is a much prettier plant 

 than the next, with larger umbels. 



BB. Style half a line or less long, 

 c. Lfts. 2-3 in. long: rays stout, 1-2 in. long. 

 brevistylis, DC. Rather stout, villous-pubescent: 

 Ivs. 2-3-ternate: style and stylopodium half a line long. 

 Canada to N. C. B.B. 2:530. 



oc. Lfts. ~%.-2 in. long: rays slender, 2-4 in. long. 



nuda, Torr. Rather slender, somewhat pubescent or 

 glabrous: Ivs. twice ternate: style and stylopodium % 

 line long. Mts., Calif. 



AA. Fr. without caudate attenuation at base. 

 occidentalis, Torr. (Myrrhis occidentalis , Benth. & 

 Hook.). Rather stout, puberulent or pubescent: Ivs. 

 2-3-ternate; Ifts. 1/^-4 in. long: umbel 5-12-rayed: 

 rays 1-5 in. long: stylopodium and style %-l line long. 

 Calif, to Wash., east to Montana. -yy ]yj 



OSMtJNDA (from Osmunder, aname of a Saxon god). 

 Osmundacece. A small genus of showy native ferns, 

 with rather coarse foliage, but highly ornamental from 

 their clustered habit. The sporangia are formed in 

 panicles borne on the veins of reduced Ivs., provided 

 with a rudimentary transverse ring and opening verti- 

 cally. 



A. Lvs. fully bipinnate. 



regalis, Linn. ROYAL FERN. Growing in clumps 2-5 

 ft. high, some of the leaves bearing panicles at their 

 summits; pinnae 1-2 in. long, rounded at the base and 

 usually blunt. Well adapted for open, moist places. 



1596. Royal Fern Osmunda cinnamomea. 



Eu., N. Amer. and Japan. Commonly called Flowering 

 Fern or King-fern. O. Japonica, Thunb., is a form with 

 the sporophylls forming distinct leaves and soon with- 

 ering away; various crested forms appear in cultivation. 



AA. Lvs. bipinnatifid 



cinnamdmea, Linn. CINNAMON FERN. Fig. 1596. 



Plate XI. Growing in clusters 2-4 ft. high or even 



more, the sporophylls appearing earliest, at first green, 



but becoming pale, long and narrow, cinnamon-colored 

 at maturity of the spores, the Ivs. growing about a 

 crown from a large, mostly vertical rootstock. N. Amer. 

 Very handsome for decorative purposes, especially for 

 low grounds. 



Claytoniana, Linn. Growing in crowns, with the 

 sporangia confined to a few (4-10) of the central pinnae 

 of the leaf, and of a dark brown color. Similar to the 

 last, but lacking the little tuft of wool in the axils of 

 the pinnae which characterizes the Cinnamon Fern. N. 

 Amer; said also to grow in India. 



L. M. UNDERWOOD. 



Osmundas are strong - growing ferns of vigorous 

 constitution, and well adapted for general culture in 

 any fertile soil which is not over dry. They are deep- 

 rooted ferns and, therefore, require considerable depth 

 of soil. All the species do well in full sunlight, 

 but the most satisfactory position for all the species 

 would be a deeply dug, thoroughly enriched border ly- 

 ing north of a wall. O. regalis reaches perfection only 

 in rich, wet swamps in full sunlight or thin shade, 

 where it may attain a height of 8 ft. O. Claytoniana 

 prefers rich, peaty soil in moist but not wet, open or 

 partially shaded positions. It may attain a height of 6 

 ft. O. cinnamomea is naturally a fern of the swamp, 

 though not in such wet positions as O. regalis. It 

 grows most luxuriantly in partial shade. In a wild state 

 it occasionally attains a height of 6 ft. 



F. W. BARCLAY. 



OSTEOMELES (Greek, stone apple or stone fruit). 

 Rosacece. The plant which bears the uncomfortable 

 name of Osteomeles anthyllidifolia is a white-fid., red- 

 fruited bush, ranging from China through the Pacific 

 islands as far south as Pitcairn's island. It has pin- 

 nate foliage, silvery beneath, each leaf 2-4 in. long and 

 composed of about 25 Ifts. The specific name of the 

 plant records its resemblance in foliage to Anthyllis 

 JBarba-Jovis , a plant with pea-like fls., known as Ju- 

 piter's Beard, which is considerably used for seaside 

 planting in frostless countries. Botanically Osteomeles 

 is closest to our shad bush (Amelanchier), but inferior 

 in hardiness and in beauty of fls. All the other species 

 of Osteomeles (about 7) are natives of the Andes, and 

 have simple Ivs. The silvery nature of O. anthyllidi- 

 folia varies considerably in the wild, and glabrous speci- 

 mens have been collected. 



Generic characters: trees and shrubs: Ivs. alternate, 

 stalked, leathery, evergreen, entire or serrate : fls. 

 white, few or numerous, in flattish clusters: calyx-tube 

 bell- or top-shaped, adnate to the carpels; lobes 5, per- 

 sistent; petals 5, oblong; stamens 10 or more, inserted 

 on the throat of the calyx; carpels 5, more or less grown 

 together and to the calyx: drupes 5-stoned. 



anthyllidifdlia, Lindl. Evergreen bush, 5-6 ft. high, 

 much branched: bark brownish black: Ivs. spreading 

 and recurved; Ifts. more or less in pairs, yellowish 

 green: fls. about % in. across, a dozen or so in a clus- 

 ter. B.M. 7354. w M> 



OSTEOSPERMUM moniliferum is a shrubby yellow- 

 fld. composite, growing 2-4 ft. high, which was offered 

 in 1891 by Reasoner Bros.. Oneco, Fla. It has dropped 

 out of cult. It is fully described in Flora Capensis 

 3:433, where the entire genus of 38 species is mono- 

 graphed. 



OSTROWSKIA (after N. ab Ostrowsky, Russian pa- 

 tron of science). Campanulacece. The GIANT BELL- 

 FLOWER, O. magnifica, ranks among the two dozen most 

 interesting "hardy perennials" introduced during the 

 last two decades of the nineteenth century. Each stem 

 grows 4 or 5 ft. high, is branched only at the top, and 

 bears 3-6 bell-shaped, pale lilac fls. 4-6 in. across and 

 4 in. deep. A healthy clump may throw up as many as 

 6-10 stems. Before the discovery of this plant, Platycodon 

 grandiflorum was generally considered the showiest of 

 all the large bell-flowers, but J. N. Gerard declares that 

 the Platycodon is very commonplace beside Ostrowskya. 

 In the colored plates the flowers have a rather washed- 

 out appearance, except in "Garden," which shows pink- 

 ish tints. Gerard describes the color as a very light 

 lavender or mauve, almost white, with deeper veinings. 



