116 PERNS OP GREAT BRITAIN. 



edge. The rigid veins are twice branched, and have 

 a narrow leafy wing ; but the main stalk of the fern is 

 not winged, or scarcely so. The free ends of the veins 

 are surrounded by the clusters of capsules, which are 

 placed within a cup-shaped, brown, rigid involucre, the 

 valves of which are convex throughout, touching only by 

 their edges, which are quite entire. 



SuB-ObDEE II. OSMTJNDACE^. 



17. OSMUNDA. 



1. 0. regdlis (Osmund Royal or Plowering Fern). — 

 Fronds twice pinnate; pinnules oblong, nearly entire, 

 the lower base somewhat ear-shaped ; dusters in terminal 

 panicles. This stately fern, which is also sometimes 

 called King Fern, and Regal Fern, is so different in its 

 appearance from our other British species, that the 

 botanist only would know it to be a fern unless the 

 veining of its leafy frond were examined. It is the most 

 conspicuous of all our wild species, and well deserves its 

 regal name, which, however, it appears to have owed to 

 other circumstances than its stately form. Its name 

 Osmunda is of Saxon origin, and perhaps was given in 

 honour of some one who in old times bore the name of 

 Osmund. Osmunda was one of the titles of Thor, the 

 Celtic Thunderer. Some believe the word itself to have 

 signified domestic peace, from os, house, and mund, 

 peace J however, the word mund was evidently some- 

 times an adjunct signifying strength and power, and 

 formed part of many a name in the olden time, as in 

 Sigismund and Edmund. It is in all probability the 



