STERILE AND FERTILE FRONDS TOTALLY UNLIKE; 

 GROUP I FERTILE FRONDS NOT LEAF-LIKE IN APPEARANCE 



wither, and, during the summer, may be found 

 either clinging to the stalks of the sterile fronds or 

 lying on the ground. 



The Cinnamon Fern is often confused with the 

 Ostrich Fern. When either plant is in fruit there is 

 no excuse for this mistake, as the cinnamon-colored 

 spore-cases of the former appear in Ma)% while the 

 dark-green fertile fronds of the latter do not ripen till 

 July. When the fruiting fronds are absent the forked 

 veinlets (Plate III, a) of the Cinnamon Fern contrast 

 with the simple veinlets of the other plant (Plate II, 

 a). Then, too, the pinnge of the Cinnamon Fern bear 

 tufts of rusty wool at the base beneath, the remnants 

 of the woolly garments worn by the young fronds. 



The plant is a superb one when seen at its best. 

 Its tall sterile fronds curve gracefully outward, while 

 the slender fruit-clusters erect themselves in the 

 centre of the rich crown. In unfavorable conditions, 

 when growing in dry meadows, for instance, like all 

 theOsmundas, and indeed like most growing things, 

 it is quite a different plant. Its green fronds become 

 stiff and stunted, losing all their graceful curves, and 

 its fruit-clusters huddle among them as if anxious 

 to keep out of sight. 



Var. frondosa is an occasional form in which some 

 of the fruiting fronds have green, leaf-like pinnae 

 below^. These abnormal fronds are most abundant 

 on land which has been burned over. 



The Cinnamon Fern is a member of the group of 

 Osmundas, or " flowering ferns," as they are some- 

 times called, not of course because they really flower, 



62 



