Osmundaceae - Royal Fern Family

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Osmunda cinnamomea (Cinnamon Fern)

This fern's leaves are arranged in a circle formation.  They are light green, 2 to 4 feet tall and 6 to 12 inches wide.  The leaves are once divided and the leavlets are deeply lobed.  Each lobe is rounded, but slightly pointed at the end.  Each lateral pinna has an inconspicuous fuzzy collar around the midrib where it joins the leaf rachis.  The leaves are without scales, but have matted cinnamon colored hairs, particularly on young leaves.  The fertile leaves turn cinnamon brown and wither in the late spring when the spores are shed. 

This fern has green spores, which is unusual in ferns, found only in the Osmunda and the Sensitive Fern, Onoclea.

The Cinnamon Fern is common in swamps, marshes, bottomland woods, stream sides, and steeps at low to high elevations.