Osmunda claytoniana - (image 1 of 4)
Taxonomy
Family: Osmundaceae
Habitat
Moist woods and swamp margins, on neutral or subacid soil.
Associates
Distribution
Throughout most of eastern half of the U.S. and Canada. Also occurs in eastern Asia.
Morphology
Perennial. Leaves soft, dull green, clustered, to 1.5 m, the petiole densely wooly when young; blade pinnate-pinnatifid; rachis soon glabrate; outer leaves usually sterile; inner leaves larger, with 1-5 pairs of fertile pinnae near the middle of the blade; fertile pinnae much smaller than vegetative ones. Sporangia dark brown.
Notes
Spores late April to May.
Wetland indicator: Facultative +
The common name refers to the way the fertile pinnae occur near the middle of the frond. Can hybridize with O. regalis.
References
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
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Michael Hough © 2005 |