308 FLOWERING FERN. 



Genus. — Osmunda. Caudex solid, enduring, erect : fructi- 

 fication upon a portion of the frond in which the veins alone 

 remaia, the parenchyma being apparently represented by clus- 

 tered, globose, reticulated capsules, which are not provided 

 with an elastic ring : involucre none. 



Species. ■ — Eegaiis. Caudex very large, tufted : stipes 

 woody, as long as the frond : frond nearly erect, and, including 

 the stipes, from four to ten feet high, pinnate : pinnse opposite, 

 spreading, pinnate : pinnules alternate, ovate, attached by the 

 midvein only, very entire : terminal panicle of capsules golden 

 coloured, large, very conspicuous. 



Osmunda regalis, Linn. Syst. Nat. 1.521 ; Light/. Fl. Scot. 



653 ; Huds. Fl. Ancj. 449 ; Bolt. Fil. Brit. 6, t. 5 : With. 



Arr. 763 ; Sm. E. F. iv. 327, E. B. 209 ; Mack. Fl. Hib. 



345 ; Franc. 63 ; Nezvm. N. A. 29, F. 331, Phytol. App. 



xxxi. ; Hook, and Am. 578 ; Bab. 417 ; Moore, 211. 



There are good figures of this fern in Bolton (Fil. Brit. t. 5), 



in ' English Botany ' (E. B. 209), and in Hooker's ' Flora Lon- 



dinensis' (t. 150), besides many of the continental works. 



All authors appear to be agreed in adopting the name of 

 Osmunda regalis : the word Osmund is supposed to be derived 

 from the Saxon mund, signifymg strength : the caudex, when 

 cut through, has a whitish centre or core, called by old Ge- 

 rarde, in his ' Herbal,' " the heart of Osmund the Waterman : " 

 my lore is insufficient to furnish my readers with the history of 

 the said Osmund. 



This noble fern is of common occurrence throughout Europe, 

 and a plant very similar, and generally bearing the same name, 

 is found in the United States of North America. 



