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| Photo
by Renee Brecht |
Britton and Brown. See
credits below.** |
| Botanical name: |
Osmunda
regalis L. |
| Common
name: |
royal fern |
| Group: |
fern |
| Family: |
Osmundaceae |
| Growth
Type: |
forb/herb |
| Duration: |
perennial |
| Origin: |
native |
| Plant
height: |
2-6' |
| Foliage: |
stipe is smooth, slender and pale
green or tan; grows in a symmetrical clump. Two types of fronds:
fertile and sterile. Fronds are doubly compound with wide spaces between leaflets and subleaflets. |
| Spores: |
spores are found on the dark green
fertile leaflets at the end of the fronds rather than on the underside
of the leaves as most ferns do. |
| Flowering/fruiting time |
mature spores mid May to mid June.
Immediately afterwards the fertile portion withers and dies, but
usually persists for some time (Stone, 124) |
| Habitat: |
wet, usually acid soil of woods, bog
margins and swamps |
| Range
in
New Jersey: |
statewide, especially common in
northern uplands. |
| Heritage ranking if any: |
n/a |
| Distribution: |
 |
| Misc.: |
O.
regalis is wind dispersed or can be propogated by
dividing rhizomes. The fibrous roots are used in the potting
of various orchids.
Osmunda, the Saxon god Osmunder the Waterman. Legend says that he hid his family from danger in a clump of Osmunda.
regalis, Latin, "royal"
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Sources
**USDA-NRCS
PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An
illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British
Possessions. Vol. 1 :7.
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