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 (Osmunda Claytoniana) 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 
