200 
OSMENDA REGAINS. 
we might expeot from Flanders to ascertain the origin 
of this name; but it remains unexplained. Parkinson 
says it was called “ Osmunda regalis, of the singular 
properties therein;” but whether he refers to the first 
or second word of the name is not specified. Osmund , 
in Anglo-Saxon, is “ House-peaceat least, so says 
Camden; and “ House-peace royal ” may have reference 
to its then credited powers as a vulnary. 
Wordsworth, with a poet’s license, but no authority, 
thus speaks of this Fern :— 
11 Fair Fern* and flowers, and chiefly that tall Fern, 
So stately, of the Queen Osmunda named ; 
Plant lovelier, in its own retired abode, 
On Grasmere’s beach, than Naiad by the side 
Of Grecian brook, or Lady of the Mere, 
Sole-sitting by the shores of old romance.” 
Another poet anonymously refers to the same plant 
as follows:— 
" Auld Botany Ben was wont to jog 
Thro’ rotten slough and quagmire bog, 
Or brimfull dykes and marshes dank 
Where Jack-a-Lanterns play and prank, 
To seek a cryptogameous store 
Of Moss, of Carex, and Fungus hoare, 
Of Ferns and Brakes, and such-like sights. 
As tempt out scientific wights 
On winter’s day; but most his joy 
Was finding what’s called Osman Roy.” 
This most noble of all the British Ferns, being so 
distinct from all others, and being so easily cultivated, 
should not be absent from any collection. Mr. W. 
Reeve says that it will be found to delight in a compost 
of three-parts fibry peat and one of vegetable mould, 
