Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin

CINNAMON FERN

(Osmunda cinnamomea L.)


Cinnamon fern

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:

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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