30 THE OSMUNDAS. 



The cinnamon fern is fairly well distributed in Eastern 

 America from Nova Scotia to Florida, Mexico, Nebraska 

 and Minnesota. It also grows in the West Indies. I 

 have collected it in Jamaica at an altitude of 4,000 feet 

 where it flourished in a sphagnum swamp, in company 

 with the stag-horn club-moss in the shelter of gigantic 

 bamboos. This species is in all probability the best 

 known of our native ferns. 



The Interrupted Fern. 



Although the first of the Osmundas to appear in 

 spring and fairly abundant in northeastern America, the 

 interrupted fern (Osmnnda Claytoniand) seldom becomes 

 a reality to the casual observer because of its remark- 

 bly close resemblance to the cinnamon fern. Fairly good 

 observers have been known to pass it for years, under 

 the impression that it was only a peculiar form of the 

 latter. When both plants are in fruit, there is no chance 

 of confusing them, but when only sterile fronds are to be 

 had, they are not easy for the young collector to separate. 

 Further acquaintance, however, will disclose many little 

 points of difference. The experienced collector can dis- 

 tinguish either species at a glance. 



The interrupted fern is less a lover of moisture than 

 its kindred, and while it may occasionally be found with 

 the cinnamon fern in some springy spot in the open grove, 

 its preference is for the fence-row and the bushy half- 

 wild lands that border so many of our back country 

 roads. Here it often thrives in the face of the most 

 untoward circumstances, frequently perched upon the 

 top of a half-buried stone pile, through the interstices of 

 which its strong roots ramify to the soil below. It is 



