i75 
OSMUNDA. 
HE genus Osinunda is the type of a suborder of ferns, the Osmnndacece , distin- 
guished from the Polypodiacece by the technical characters given in our sketch 
of the classification of ferns (p. xiii.), and consisting of two genera : Osinunda. 
in which the sori are quite distinct from the leafy portion of the frond, form- 
ing a clustered panicle ; and Todea — a small genus of large ferns which are 
almost confined to Australia and New Zealand, although one (T. Barbara ) 
extends to South Africa — in which the sori are, as usual, borne on the back 
of the leafy part of the frond. The authors of the “Synopsis Filicum ” admit 
only six species, several which had been considered distinct by Presl being 
placed “ without hesitation ” under 0 . regalis. One species, 0 . bipinnata , is 
confined to Hong Kong, and another, O. lancea, to Japan ; in the former of 
these it is the lowermost pinnae that are fertile, the upper being barren, contrary to the order 
observed in a British species; the latter has distinct barren and fertile fronds. Two others, O 
Claytoniana and O. cinnamomea , are common North American ferns, which were introduced to 
cultivation in England in 1772; the latter of these has separate barren and fertile fronds, the 
fertile ones, to the cinnamon-coloured sporangia of which the species owes its name, are produced 
from the centre of the tuft, perfecting fruit as they unfold, and withering long before the barren 
ones — which are at length four or five feet high— attain their full dimensions. In O. Claytoniana 
there is only one kind of frond, the sporangia being produced usually upon the middle pinnae, 
but sometimes upon the upper or lower ones. It is a very pretty plant, and well worth growing. 
This extends to the Himalayas, ascending to ten thousand feet, while O. cinnamomea is of wider 
distribution still, extending in the New World to Mexico, New Granada, the West Indies, and 
Brazil, and in the Old World occurring in Japan, Amur-land, and Mandschuria. We will now 
proceed to describe our European species. 
THE FLOWERING FERN: OSMUNDA REGALIS, L. 
The handsomest and most striking of our European ferns is the one which we have now 
to consider. It is one of the best known and most sought after — one of which the English 
name seems to imply a contradiction, for a fern which could produce flowers would be no fern at 
all. We can understand, however, when we see the tall fronds topped by the rich reddish-brown 
panicle which is formed by the upper pinnae covered with fructification, that a plant so different- 
looking from the ordinary ferns of humble growth, with the spores upon the back of their fronds, 
may have seemed in comparison to produce flowers ; and so it obtained the name of Filix 
florid a or florescens. 
Very variable in habit is the Flowering Fern, much depending upon its place of growth! 
and it is quite likely that if first met with upon a moor or heath, where it attains only a small 
size, the impression will be one of disappointment. Our own introduction to the plant took 
place under singularly favourable circumstances. We had long heard rumours of its occurrence 
in or about a certain wood, and had hunted in vain for it in almost every direction, when we 
were fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of one of those naturalists in humble life 
