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Osmunda cinnamomea L.

Cinnamon fern

KingdomPlantaePlants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
SubkingdomTracheobiontaVascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
DivisionPteridophytaFerns
ClassFilicopsida“Leptosporangiate” (has to do with how their spores form) ferns—includes most ferns
OrderPolypodialesPolypod ferns
FamilyOsmundaceae
GenusOsmunda
Speciescinnamomea

About plant names...

Cinnamon ferns are natives of the Americas, as well as eastern Asia. They date all the way back to the Paleozoic era, somewhere between 500 million and 250 million years ago—they may be the oldest living species. Their longevity is due in part to their prodigious production of spores, estimated at somewhere between 8 and 43 million per plant.[1] Until 2008, these ferns were known as Osmunda cinnamomea.

Identification: Cinnamon ferns produce sterile fronds 12-59″ (30-150 cm) tall and 6-8″ (15-20 cm) wide, with opposing leaflets 1¾-4″ (5-10 cm) long and ¾-⅞″ (2-2.5 cm) wide. The leaflets are so deeply lobed that the fronds appear to be bipinnate. These ferns also produce separate fertile fronds 8-18″ (20-45 cm) tall, and it is the light brown color of these fronds that give the fern its common name. As the plant ages, the fronds darken to brown and almost black. These ferns reproduce by spores as mentioned above, and also by cloning themselves, forming huge clonal groups.

Online References:

Illinois Wildflowers

The Connecticut Botanical Society's Connecticut wildflowers site

The USDA Forest Service's Fire Effects Information Database

Wikipedia

Nametheplant.net (Native & Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia)

References:

Cobb, Boughton, Farnsworth, Elizabeth & Lowe, Cheryl, Peterson Field Guides: Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005, p. 170

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

6/4/2021 · Robert P. Tristram Coffin Wild Flower Reservation, Woolwich, Maine · ≈ 3 × 4½″ (7.5 × 11 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 4½ × 7″ (11 × 17 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 6 × 9″ (14 × 22 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 4½ × 3″ (11 × 7.9 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

6/4/2015 · Flagg Hill Conservation Area, Stow, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 7 × 4½″ (17 × 11 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

6/4/2015 · Flagg Hill Conservation Area, Stow, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 4½ × 7″ (11 × 17 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 9 × 14″ (23 × 35 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

10/2/2023 · Marsh View Loop, Ridgewell Preserve, Phippsburg, Maine

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

5/26/2008 · Wachusett Mountain, Princeton, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 1½ × 2½′ (55 × 82 cm)

1Check here to see how the estimate was derived

Osmundastrum cinnamomeum (L.) C. Presl

 

Osmunda cinnamomea description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 23 Sep 2021.

© FloraFinder.org. All rights reserved.


 

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

6/4/2015 · Flagg Hill Conservation Area, Stow, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 4 × 6″ (10 × 15 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

6/4/2021 · Robert P. Tristram Coffin Wild Flower Reservation, Woolwich, Maine · ≈ 4 × 6″ (10 × 16 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

5/18/2012 · Mine Falls Park, Nashua, New Hamp­shire · ≈ 1 × 2′ (41 × 62 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

5/14/2012 · Acton Arboretum, Acton, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 11 × 7″ (27 × 18 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 4 × 6″ (10 × 15 cm) ID is uncertain

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

6/4/2021 · Robert P. Tristram Coffin Wild Flower Reservation, Woolwich, Maine · ≈ 6 × 4″ (16 × 10 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

5/28/2021 · Brunswick Commons, Brunswick, Maine · ≈ 4½ × 7″ (11 × 16 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

5/28/2021 · Brunswick Commons, Brunswick, Maine · ≈ 11 × 7″ (28 × 18 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

5/29/2014 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 6 × 9″ (16 × 23 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

5/29/2014 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 6 × 9″ (16 × 23 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

5/30/2014 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 9 × 6″ (22 × 15 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 4½ × 3″ (11 × 7.9 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

5/14/2012 · Acton Arboretum, Acton, Mass­a­chu­setts · ≈ 6 × 9″ (15 × 23 cm)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts

Range:

About this map...