22 



THE FERN BULLETIN 



plants is a task not to be lightly undertaken, and when 

 as sometimes happens, the root gives way suddenly 

 seating the strenuous digger unexpectedly on the 

 ground his enthusiasm as well as his clothing is apt to 

 be dampened, for the time being at least. 



The cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) is one 

 of our commonest ferns being found in large quantities 

 in swampy lands throughout the Eastern States. Its 

 stout crosiers are covered thickly with white wool, tiny 

 tufts of which are found at the base of each pinnule of 

 the mature frond though the color has here changed 

 from silvery white to tawny brown. The sterile fronds 

 are once pinnate with deeply lobed pinnules, the pin- 

 nules being more pointed than in its relative the inter- 

 rupted fern. They grow in a circular or vase shaped 

 chump, are from two to six feet in height and a soft 

 light green in color. The fertile fronds look very dif- 

 ferent, being much shorter, stiff, cub-like and cinna- 

 mon-brown in color and are very noticeable among the 

 soft greens of early summer. But for all their dif- 

 ferent appearance these club-like fronds are really the 

 counterparts of the sterile fronds with reduced area and 

 covered with sporangia. When the spores are shed, 

 the fertile spikes wither and soon disappear. The root- 

 stock is large and one end is annually renewed by fresh 

 crowns of fronds while the other gradually dies. If 

 no disaster overtakes the plant it may live to extreme 

 age. It is found from Nova Scotia southward and in 

 the West Indies as well. 



The interrupted fern (Osmunda Claytoniana) is 

 by no means uncommon in the eastern' states, but is 

 often passed by unnoticed because of its resemblence to 

 the cinnamon fern. The first specimens I ever saw 

 were brought from Vermont and I was assured that 



