CHAPTER VI. 



OSMUNDA, Linnams. 

 (Os-mun'-da.) 



Flowering Ferns. 



F the sub -order Osmundacece this genus forms the most important 

 division. It is composed of plants with fronds either pinnate 

 or bipinnate (once or twice divided to the midrib), and readily 

 distinguished through their fructification being totally distinct 

 from the leafy part of the frond, forming a contracted portion 

 disposed into simple or compound sporangiferous panicles (spore-bearing 

 branches). In some species, such as 0. cinnamomea, the barren and fertile 

 fronds are different, one lot of fronds being sterile and the others fertile ; in 

 other species, where fertile and barren on the same frond, the upper portion 

 in some cases, as, for instance, 0. regalis, and the middle part of the frond in 

 others, e.g., 0. Claytoniana, only is fertile. In Hooker and Baker's " Synopsis 

 Filicum " Osmiinda forms Genus 62. The name is of uncertain origin. 

 Sir W. J. Hooker (" British Ferns," p. 45) refers to Sir J. Edward Smith's 

 conjecture that the word comes from the Saxon osmund, meaning " domestic 

 peace." He also quotes from Gerarde, that in " olden times it was called 

 Osmund the Waterman, and the whitish portion of the rootstock (which, boiled 

 or else stamped and taken with some kind of liquor, is thought to be good for 

 these that are wounded . . . ) is called the heart of Osmund the Waterman." 

 The accepted derivation of the word Osmiinda is, however, more generally 

 admitted as Osmunder, the Saxon name of the Scandinavian god, Thor. The 

 genus is represented in England by the " Royal Fern," 0. regalis, only. 



