OsMUNDA. FILICES. 503 



17. OSMUNDA. Linn. ; Endl. gen. no. 665. flowering-fern. 



[Etymotogy obscure.J 



Capsules minute, subglobose, clustered on the contracted fronds or in terminal paniculate 

 racemes, pedicellate, radiate-striate, half 2-valved. Involucre none. — Tall handsome ferns ; 

 the sterile and fertile fronds sometimes distinct, pinnate or bipinnate. Veins forked, straight, 

 not connected. Spores green. 



1. OsMUNDA Claytoniana, Linu. Interrupted Flowering-fern. 



Frond pinnate ; pinna; pinnatifid ; the segments oblong, entire ; some of the intermediate 

 pinna; ienWe. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 1066; Willd. sp. 5. p. 96; Pursli, fl. 2. p. 56S ; Muhl. 

 cat. p. 102. O. interrupta, Michx. fl. 2. p. 273; FursJi, I. c. ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 388; 

 Torr. compend. p. 386 ; Beck, hot. p. 457 ; Durlingt. fl. Cest. p. 585. 



Stipe nearly smooth, a little woolly at the base, 6-8 inches long. Frond 1^-2 feet long, 

 linear- oblong in the outline : pinnse mostly opposite, sometimes alternate, nearly sessile, 

 deeply pinnatifid, smooth above, a little ferruginous-pubescent underneath : veins very con- 

 spicuous, forking once near the base, and then running undivided obliquely quite to the margin. 

 Several of the intermediate pinna; on each side (usually near the middle) are metamorphosed 

 into compound pinnate dense clusters of capsules of a dark brown color. 



Low moist grounds and thickets : common. Fr. June - July. 



2. OsMUNDA ciNNAMOMEA, Lmu. WooUy Floioering-fem. 



Sterile frond pinnate, the pinnae elongated and pinnatifid ; segments entire ; fertile frond 

 bipinnate, the pinnae contracted, and with the stipe woolly. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 1066 ; Michx. 

 fl. 2. /). 273 ; Willd. sp. 5. p. 98 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 657 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 387 ; Torr. 

 compend. p. 385 ; Beck, hot. p. 457 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 586. 



var. frondosa : frond leafy below, fructiferous at the summit ; siipe less woolly. — Torr. 

 ^ Gr. in cat. pi. N.-York, in geol. rep. 1841, p. 196. 0. Claytoniana, Conrad, in jour, 

 acad. Phil. 6. p. 39 ; Beck, hot. I. c, not of Linn. 



A tall fern, growing in large bunches, sometimes attaining a height of five feet ; the sterile 

 and fertile fronds intermi.\ed. Stipe and rachis clothed with a loose copious reddish wool. 

 Pinnas 3-6 inches long, opposite or alternate, smoothish on both sides ; the margin a little 

 woollv : segments oblong, mostly obtuse. Fertile fronds with the pinna; much smaller, erect, 

 usually all of them changed into dense clusiers of innumerable capsules of a bright ferruginous 

 or cinnamon color when mature. In the var. frondosa, the frond is leafy below and fructiferous 

 at the top. 



Low grounds and wet thickets : common. The variety occurs near New- York, and has 

 also been found near Cambridge, in Washington county, by Dr. M. Stevenson, as well as at 

 Stillwater, by Dr. Pitch. Fr. June. 



