OsMUNDA. 



FILICES. 



503 



17. OSMUNDA. Linn.; Endl. gen. no. 665. flowering-fern. 



[Etymology obscure.] 



Capsules minute, subglobose, clustered on the contracted fronds or in terminal paniculate 

 racemes, pedicellate, radiate-striate, half 2-valved. Involucre none. — Tall handsome ferns ; 

 the sterile and fertile fronds sometimes distinct, pinnate or bipinnate. Veins forked, straight, 

 not connected. Spores green. 



1. Osmunda Claytoniana, Linn. Interrupted Flowering-fern. 



1 Frond pinnate ; pinnae pinnatifid ; the segments oblong, entire ; some of the intermediate 

 pinnae fertile. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 1066; Willd. sp. 5. p. 96; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 56S ; Muhl. 

 cat. p. 102. O. interrupta, Michx. fl. 2. p. 273; Pursh, I. c. ; Bigel.fi. Bost. p. 368; 

 Torr. compend. p. 386 ; Beck, hot. p. 457 ; Darlingt. fi. Cest. p. 585. 



Stipe nearly smooth, a little woolly at the base, 6-8 inches long. Frond 1^-2 feet long, 

 linear-oblong in the outline : pinnae mostly opposite, sometimes alternate, nearly sessile, 

 deeply pinnatifid, smooth above, a little ferruginous-pubescent underneath : veins very con- 

 spicuous, forking once near the base, and then running undivided obliquely quite to the margin. 

 Several of the intermediate pinnae on each side (usually near the middle) are metamorphosed 

 into compound pinnate dense clusters of capsules of a dark brown color. 



Low moist grounds and thickets : common. Fr. June - July. 



2. Osmunda cinnamomea, Linn. Woolly Flowering-fern. 

 Sterile frond pinnate, the pinnae elongated and pinnatifid ; segments entire ; fertile frond 



bipinnate, the pinnae contracted, and with the stipe woolly. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 1066 ; Michx. 

 fl. 2. p. 273 ; Willd. sp. 5. p. 98 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 657 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 387 ; Torr. 

 compend. p. 385 ; Beck, hot. p. 457 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 586. 



var. frondosa : frond leafy below, fructiferous at the summit ; stipe less woolly. — Torr. 

 <§■ Gr. in cat. pi. N.-York, in geol. rep. 1841, p. 196. O. Claytoniana, Conrad, in jour, 

 acad. Phil. 6. p. 39 ; Beck, bot. I. c, not of Linn. 



A tall fern, growing in large bunches, sometimes attaining a height of five feet ; the sterile 

 and fertile fronds intermixed. Stipe and rachis clothed with a loose copious reddish wool. 

 Pinnae 3-6 inches long, opposite or alternate, smoothish on both sides ; the margin a little 

 woolly : segments oblong, mostly obtuse. Fertile fronds with the pinnae much smaller, erect, 

 usually all of them changed into dense clusters of innumerable capsules of a bright ferruginous 

 or cinnamon color when mature. In the var. frondosa, the frond is leafy below and fructiferous 

 at the top. 



Low grounds and wet thickets : common. The variety occurs near New- York, and has 

 also been found near Cambridge, in Washington county, by Dr. M. Stevenson, as well as at 

 Stillwater, by Dr. Fitch. Fr. June. 



