O. regalis was used extensively in medec'n^ in Pre- 
r^innean times. Radix Osmitndxe re oralis and Meditlla 
7'adlcls Osmundae were used in various ways by the ear- 
lier herbalists 
The Virginian plant was distinguished by Linnaeus 
as Osmunda regalis /3. and by Willdenow as O. spec- 
tabllls [Willd. Sp. PI. 5: 96.]. Typical plants do not 
seem to differ materially from the European form. The 
former was described as having plnnulls . . difinlhtts 
alternls. Sterile specimen^ collected along with typical 
plants near Washington, D. C, have nearly all pinnae 
opposite and other characters attributed to the European 
form. 
tt Leaves 2-plnnatlfld . 
^ 2- J of the middle pi una e fertile, 
2. O. Claytoniana L. 
Osmunda Claytoniana L,\, c. 1066. Eaton ^ 1. c. 
219. t. 29. ff. 1,2 ; in Gray, 1. c. Underw. i nlll. 
Fl. I : 6. Nat. Ferns 77 ; in Britt. 1. c. 4. Clute, 
1. c. 30. Whalers,, I.e. 303. 
Clayton's Fekn. 
Plants 6— 12 dm. high; leaves oblong, lanceolate, the 
pinnae 0.5— i .5 dm. long, the ultimate divisions rounded ; 
fertile leaves, somewhat taller than the sterile ones ; spore- 
bearing pinnae reduced. 
I n m o i s t w o o d s . May.. June. 
16 
