14j OSMUNDA 



CINNAMON FERN; BRAKE: 



Osmunda cinnamomea. 



Sterile and fertile fronds dissimilar; sterile 

 fronds often 6 feet in height, growing in a circle 

 and spreading out in a vase-like form, pinnate ; pin- 

 nae lance-shaped, deeply pinnatifid with blunt divi- 

 sions; fertile fronds stiff, reddish-brown, club-like 

 structures, which wither and disappear early in the 

 summer after the spores are shed; the young un- 

 rolling fronds or " croziers " often called " fiddle- 

 heads." 



The sterile fronds much resemble those of 0. 

 Claytoniana, from which they may be distinguished 

 by the little tufts of wool at the base of each pinna. 



Common in swampy places and low ground, 

 widely distributed. 



In the variety incisa the segments of the pinnae 

 are more or less cut or pinnatifid. 



NOTES. 



