OSMUNDA. 



33 



O. cinnamomea — cin-nam-o'-me-a (cinnamon-coloured), Linnceus. 



This very handsome and perfectly hardy species, which, according to 

 Lowe, was introduced into the Royal Gardens, Kew, as far back as 1772, has 

 a wide range of habitat. It is usually considered as a purely North 

 American plant, being a native of Florida, Louisiana, and Newfoundland, 

 where it is most abundant in low grounds and moist copses ; but these are 

 not its only habitats, as Eaton, in his excellent work on " Ferns of North 

 America," states (vol. i., p. 220) that Bourgeau collected it near Sturgeon Lake, 

 some hundred miles north- 

 west of Lake Superior, and 

 Milde gives Lake Winnipeg 

 as a station for it. It is be- 

 sides known as an indigenous 

 plant from Newfoundland to 

 Mexico, in the West Indies, 

 Guatemala, New Granada, 

 Brazil, Japan, Manchuria, &c. 

 It is of robust growth and 

 compact habit, and when 

 deprived of fertile fronds its 

 general appearance is very 

 similar to that of 0. Clay- 

 toniana (or 0. interrupta, as 

 that species is usually called 

 in gardens) ; in fact, in the 

 absence of fructification it is 

 not always easy to distinguish 

 one from the other. When 

 well grown, the crown of 



fronds of this species rivals in density that of 0. Claytoniana, and the barren 

 fronds, which in this case are by far the more numerous, are of almost the same 

 shape and dimensions as those of that species. 0. cinnamomea is generally of 

 more upright habit, but the most striking difference between the two species, 

 discernible only when in a barren state, is that in the plant under notice the 

 summit of the frond is decidedly sharp-pointed, as is also the summit of each 

 VOL. in. ^ 



Fig. 9. Osmunda cinnamomea 

 (much reduced). 



