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Cinnamon Fern
Osmunda cinnamonea Linnaeus
(oz-MUN-da sin-a-MON-ee-a)
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General:
A Saxon god named Osmunder is said
to have hidden his family in a clump of these ferns, thus the name
Osmunda. The species name, cinnamonea, refers to the cinnamon brown
color of the fertile fronds.
This large, common fern of moist, acid soils grows in a clump, and has separate fertile and sterile fronds (dimorphic).
Cinnamon fern has been used as a
medicinal plant by Indians and in folk medicine. The fiddleheads are
edible which has lead to commercial exploitation. NOTE: This fern
should not be collected from the wild. It is protected by the Florida
Dept. of Agriculture.
Fruiting Bodies:
As fiddleheads, the fertile fronds
are covered with silvery hairs. They appear to be covered with wooly
tufts which turn from green to a beautiful cinnamon brown as the
sporangia (spore cases) mature. These erect fronds, up to 150 cm. (60
in.) long, are usually taller than the sterile fronds and have no green
pinnae (leaflets). In the photo below, all three stages are visible.
They are found mostly in the spring into early summer and make this
fern most easy to identify during that season.
Leaves/Stems:
The sterile fronds are
pinnate-pinnatifid (once divided) with lobes along the pinnae (fern
leaflets) and appear to alternate along the rachis (midrib). The
gently arching blade is elliptic in outline. When no fertile
fronds are visible, this beautiful fern may be identified by pubescence
on the lower side at the base of each pinna. The rhizomes (plant stems) are creeping to partly erect with fibrous roots.
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Photo by Audrey Swindal
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