Osmunda cinnamomea L.
Cinnamon fern
Kingdom Plantae Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom Tracheobionta Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division Pteridophyta Ferns
Class Filicopsida “Leptosporangiate” (has to do with how their spores form) ferns—includes most ferns
Order Polypodiales Polypod ferns
Family Osmundaceae
Genus Osmunda
Species cinnamomea
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
6/4/2021 · Robert P. Tristram Coffin Wild Flower Reservation, Woolwich, Maine · ≈ 3 × 4½″ (7.5 × 11 cm)
8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 4½ × 7″ (11 × 17 cm)
8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 6 × 9″ (14 × 22 cm)
8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 4½ × 3″ (11 × 7.9 cm)
6/4/2015 · Flagg Hill Conservation Area, Stow, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 4½″ (17 × 11 cm)
6/4/2015 · Flagg Hill Conservation Area, Stow, Massachusetts · ≈ 4½ × 7″ (11 × 17 cm)
8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 9 × 14″ (23 × 35 cm)
10/2/2023 · Marsh View Loop, Ridgewell Preserve, Phippsburg, Maine
5/26/2008 · Wachusett Mountain, Princeton, Massachusetts · ≈ 1½ × 2½′ (55 × 82 cm)
Older scientific or horticultural names
Osmundastrum cinnamomeum (L.) C. Presl
Osmunda cinnamomea description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 23 Sep 2021.
© FloraFinder.org. All rights reserved.
6/4/2015 · Flagg Hill Conservation Area, Stow, Massachusetts · ≈ 4 × 6″ (10 × 15 cm)
6/4/2021 · Robert P. Tristram Coffin Wild Flower Reservation, Woolwich, Maine · ≈ 4 × 6″ (10 × 16 cm)
5/18/2012 · Mine Falls Park, Nashua, New Hampshire · ≈ 1 × 2′ (41 × 62 cm)
5/14/2012 · Acton Arboretum, Acton, Massachusetts · ≈ 11 × 7″ (27 × 18 cm)
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 4 × 6″ (10 × 15 cm) ID is uncertain
6/4/2021 · Robert P. Tristram Coffin Wild Flower Reservation, Woolwich, Maine · ≈ 6 × 4″ (16 × 10 cm)
5/28/2021 · Brunswick Commons, Brunswick, Maine · ≈ 4½ × 7″ (11 × 16 cm)
5/28/2021 · Brunswick Commons, Brunswick, Maine · ≈ 11 × 7″ (28 × 18 cm)
5/29/2014 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 6 × 9″ (16 × 23 cm)
5/29/2014 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 6 × 9″ (16 × 23 cm)
5/30/2014 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 9 × 6″ (22 × 15 cm)
8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 4½ × 3″ (11 × 7.9 cm)
5/14/2012 · Acton Arboretum, Acton, Massachusetts · ≈ 6 × 9″ (15 × 23 cm)
8/24/2009 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts
Range:
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