GENERA AND SPECIES. 135 
PLATE LIII. 
OSMUNDA CLAYTONIANA. Linnzus. 
CLAYTON’S FLOWERING FERN. 
This curious fern is the O. interrupta of Michaux, which 
is really the most appropriate name, on account of the fer- 
tile frond being interrupted at intervals near the middle 
with contracted pinne bearing the fruit-capsules; but the 
older name of Claytoniana claims the precedence. The 
Plate only shows the interrupted fertile frond, the sterile 
being very similar but broader. The transformation of 
the leaf-tissue into fruit-bearing organs is well exhibited 
in this plant. It grows to the height of about two and one 
half feet, and, when young, is clothed with a fine woolly 
substance which disappears when older. 
This plant is found in all our damp, rich woods, but is 
not so common around Louisville as the O. regalis. In 
Rockcastle County it is very abundant, as is doubtless the 
case in all the deep, rich woods of the mountain counties. 
