Cinnamon fern, osmonde cannelle

Osmunda cinnamomea var. glandulosa Waters

Leaves pinnate-pinnatifid; petioles slightly shorter than blades, not winged, with light brown hairs when young, glabrate with age. Sterile leaves ovate to lanceolate, ca. 0.3--1.5 m; pinnae broadly oblong with persistent tuft of hairs on abaxial surface at base; ultimate segments with base obtuse, margins entire, apex usually mucronate. Fertile leaves with no expanded pinnae, green, becoming brownish, shorter and narrower than sterile leaves, withering after sporulation. Sporangia brown. 2 n =44.

Sporulation spring--early summer (late summer, early winter in Florida). Moist areas, acidic soils, frequently in vernal seeps; 0--2300 m; St. Pierre and Miquelon; N.B., Nfld., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America; Asia.

Many forms of Osmunda cinnamomea have been described from within the flora area. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental.