Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin
CINNAMON FERN
(Osmunda cinnamomea L.)
ROYAL FERN FAMILY (Osmundaceae)
IND. STATUS: FACW
FIELD CHARACTERISTICS: A clump-forming, perennial fern with a stout rhizome, growing to a height of 6-12(16) dm. The fronds are of two types. The sterile fronds are green, pinnate-pinnatifid, with a tuft of cinnamon-colored hair at the base of the pinnae, and a few hairs along the margins of the segments. The fertile (spore- bearing) fronds are cinnamon-colored and hairy.
0. cinnamomea can be distinguished from the related royal fern (0. regalis) and interrupted fern (0. claytoniana) by the following:
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1.A. Fronds bipinnate, fertile portion of fronds, if present, located at the
apex ...........................0. regalis
1.B. Fronds pinnate-pinnatifid; fertile fronds entirely fertile or fertile portion located in the middle of the frond ...........................2
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2.A. Fertile fronds entirely fertile, soon disappearing; margins of the
segments of sterile fronds with a few hairs ...........................0.
cinnamomea
2.B. All fronds green and leafy; fertile brown portion, when present confined to the middle of the frond, soon dropping off ...........................0. claytoniana
ECOLOGICAL NOTES: Cinnamon fern is found in wooded swamps, shrub swamps, bogs, and along streambanks. The fertile fronds die back by mid-summer and are not readily apparent.
SOURCE: Gleason and Cronquist (1991); and Tryon (1980).
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