THE ROYAL FERN. 
THE ROYAL, or FLOWERING FERN. 
OSMUNDA REGALIS. 
O. fronds bipinnate (rarely tripinnate) ; pinnules oblong, nearly 
entire, dilated and more or less auricled at the base; spore-cases 
clustered in twice-branched panicles at the apex of the fronds. 
[Plate CX.] 
OSMUNDA REGALIS, Linnœus, Sp. Plant. 1521. Bolton, Fil. Brit. 6, t. 5. Smith, 
Eng. Bot. iii. t. 209; Id., Eng. Fl. 2 ed. iv. 314. Hooker & Arnott, Brit. 
Fl. 7 ed. 593. Hooker, Fl. Lond. v. t. 150 (veins erroneous) ; Id., Gen. 
Fil. t. 46 A. Mackay, Fl. Hib. 345. Gray, Nat. Arr. Brit. Pl. ii. 3. 
Babington, Man. Brit. Bot. 4 ed. 429. Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 3 ed. 
307. Moore, Handb. Brit. Ferns, 3 ed. 268 ; Id., Ferns of Gt. Brit. Nature 
Printed, t. 50. Deakin, Florigr. Brit. iv. 36, fig. 1578. Sowerby, Ferns of 
Gt. Brit. 78, t. 44. Bentham, Handb. Brit. Fl. 625. Schkuhr, Krypt. Gew. 
147, t. 145. Swartz, Syn. Fil. 160. Willdenow, Sp. Plant. v. 97. Sprengel, 
Syst. Veg. iv. 24. Presl, Supp. Tent. Plerid. 62. Nyman, Syllog. Fl. 
Europ. 434. Fl. Danica, t. 217. Svensk Bot. t. 366. Ledebour, Fl. Ross. 
iv. 506. Fries, Sum. Veg. 83. Koch, Syn. 2 ed. 973. Gray, Bot. North 
United States, 2 ed. 600. Sturm, Fl. (Farrn.) t. 7. Lowe, Nat. Hist. Ferns, 
viii. t. 8. 
APHYLLOCALPA REGALIS, Cavamilles, Ann. Cienc. Nat. v. 164; Id., Preelect. 
(1802), 556. 
STRUTHIOPTERIS REGALIS, Bernhardi, Schrad. Jowrn. Bot. 1800, ii. 126. 
Var. cristata: fronds pinnœ and pinnules multifid-erisped at the 
apex. [Plate CXI.] 
Caudex stout, firm, growing in tufts, dark-coloured, erect, often 
becoming trunk-like, and attaining an elevation of two feet or more. 
Fibres numerous, stout, branched. 
Vernation circinate. 
Stipes nearly or quite as long as the leafy portion of the frond, 
and as well as the rachis suceulent tinged with red and clothed with 
loose deciduous pale-brown cobwebby wool while young, firm smooth 
and pale green when mature, terete, somewhat flattened in front, 
dilated at the base and having a membranaceous margin there; 

