Genus i. 



ROYAL FERN FAMILY. 



Family 2. OSMUNDACEAE R. Br. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. i: 161. 1810. 



Royal Fern Family. 

 Large ferns with creeping or suberect rootstocks. Stipes winged at the base, 

 the blades 1-2-pinnate or tripinnatifid, with free mostly forked veins extending 

 to the margins. Sporanges naked, large, globose, mostly stalked, borne on modi- 

 fied contracted pinnae and nearly covering them or (in Todea and Leptopteris, 

 Old World genera) in clusters (sori) on the lower surface of the pinnules or 

 segments, opening in 2 valves by a longitudinal slit; ring wanting or mere traces 

 of one near the apex. 



Three living genera, Osmunda and the two mentioned. 



1. OSMUNDA [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 1063. 1753. 

 Tall swamp or lowland ferns, the leaves in large crowns, long-stalked, the blades bipin- 

 natifid or bipinnate, with regularly forked prominent veins, the fertile portions much con- 

 tracted and devoid of chlorophyl, the short-stalked sporanges thin, reticulated, opening in 

 halves, a few parallel thickened cells near the apex representing the rudimentary transverse 

 ring. Spores copious, greenish. [From Osmunder, a Saxon name for the god Thor.] 



Eight species, the following in North America. .Type species : Osmunda regalis L. 

 Blades bipinnate, some of them fertile at the apex. 1. O. regalis. 



Herbaceous blades bipinnatifid. 



Pinnae of sterile blade with a tuft of tomentum at the base ; blades normally dimorphous. 



2. O. cinnamomea. 

 Pinnae of sterile blade lacking a tuft of tomentum at the base ; blades normally fertile only 

 in the middle. 3. O. Claytoniana. 



1. Osmunda regalis L. Royal Fern. Fig. 15. 



Osmunda regalis L. Sp. PI. 1065. 1753. 



Rootstock stout, bearing a cluster of several 

 long-stalked leaves, 2°-6° high, the apical pinnae 

 fertile, contracted, forming an upright terminal 

 panicle, the pinnules linear-cylindric, greenish 

 before maturity, dark brown and withering with 

 age. Sterile pinnae 6'-i2' long, 2'-4' wide, the 

 pinnules oblong-ovate or lanceolate-oblong, ses- 

 sile or slightly stalked, glabrous, finely serrulate, 

 especially near the apex and occasionally crenate 

 toward the truncate, oblique, or even cordate, base. 



In low woods, swamps and marshes, Newfoundland 

 to Florida, west to Mississippi, Nebraska and Sas- 

 katchewan. Also in Tropical America, Europe and 

 Africa. May- July. Called also Royal Osmond. 

 Bracken, Buckhorn-brake. King's-, flowering-, water-, 

 tree-, snake- or ditch-fern^ Bog-onion, Herb Christo- 

 pher, Hartshorn-bush. 



2. Osmunda cinnamomea L. 



Cinnamon-fern. Fig. 16. 



Osmunda cinnamomea L. Sp. PI. 1066. 1753. 



Rootstock very large, widely creeping, bear- 

 ing a circular cluster of sterile leaves with one 

 or more fertile ones within. Stipes i° or more 

 long, clothed with ferruginous tomentum when 

 young, glabrous with age. Sterile blades i°-S° 

 long, oblong-lanceolate, deeply bipinnatifid, the 

 pinnae linear-lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid into 

 oblong obtuse segments, the margins usually en- 

 tire. Fertile blade contracted, bipinnate, soon 

 withering ; sporanges cinnamon-colored. 



In wet woods, swamps and low grounds, New- 

 foundland to Minnesota, the Gulf states and New 

 Mexico. Also in Mexico, Brazil, the West Indies 

 and eastern Asia. Forms occur with leaves variously 

 intermediate between the fertile and sterile. May- 

 June. Bread-root. Fiddle-heads. Swamp-brake. 



