Description
Osmunda –
There are about 12 species of large, deciduous, terrestrial ferns in this genus. They occur in damp places and watersides in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. They produce broadly lance shaped to triangular-ovate or ovate, pinnate, 2 pinnate, or 2 pinnatifid sterile fronds arise from large, erect rhizomes and turn yellow or golden brown in autumn. Distinctive, partially or wholly fertile fronds produce branched clusters of spherical greenish sporangia, which turn rust brown or blackish on reduced pinnae. Grow in damp border, or at the margins of a pond or stream, where many, especially O. regalis, make a striking focal point near a waterside.
Grow these fully frost hardy plants in moist, fertile, humus rich, preferably acidic soil, in light, dappled shade, although many are perfectly sited in full sun. Divide in autumn or early spring.
Prone to rust.
O. cinnamomea – Cinnamon Fern – This deciduous fern from the Americas and Asia grows 36″ tall and 24″ wide. It produces shuttlecocks of ovate-lance shaped, pinnate, bluish green sterile fronds, 2-5′ feet long, with pinnatifid segments, surrounding much narrower, erect fertile fronds to 3′ feet long. The top of each fertile frond is a mass of cinnamon-brown sporangia in spring. May be slow to established but is long lived.
Zones 4-8
