Monilophytes (ferns): Leptosporangiate Ferns (true ferns): Osmundales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Osmundastrum cinnamomeum
FAMILY
Osmundaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
See herbarium specimens at the Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
Read about Osmundastrum and Osmunda from Alan Weakley and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.
Learn more about Osmundastrum from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
Sterile plants of Osmundastrum cinnamomeum are sometimes confused with Anchistea virginica, which also has rather coarse, pinnate-pinnatifid leaves and grows in similar wet, acid places. Osmundastrum is coarser (to 2m tall, vs. to 1m tall), has cinnamon tufts of tomentum present in the axils of the pinnae (vs. absent), has the rachis greenish and rather fleshy in texture (vs. brown and wiry), and bears fronds clumped or tufted from a massive, woody, ascending rhizome covered with old petiole bases (vs. fronds borne scattered along a thick, horizontal, creeping rhizome), per Weakley's Flora (2023).
The taxonomic significance of the densely glandular pubescent Osmundastrum cinnamomeum var. glandulosum (Waters) McAvoy needs additional evaluation; it is reported from scattered locations in e. North America, including SC and VA. Because of its geographic incoherence it is here regarded as a form, per Weakley's Flora (2023).
INCLUDING
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Osmunda cinnamomea var. cinnamomea
FAMILY
Osmundaceae
INCLUDING Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Osmundastrum cinnamomeum var. cinnamomeum
INCLUDING Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Osmundastrum cinnamomeum var. glandulosum
SYNONYMOUS WITH The Ferns and Lycophytes of Texas (Diggs & Lipscomb, 2014)
Osmundastrum cinnamomeum
INCLUDING Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Osmunda cinnamomea var. cinnamomea
INCLUDING Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Osmunda cinnamomea var. glandulosa
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 2 (1993)
Osmunda cinnamomea
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 007-01-001:
Osmunda cinnamomea FAMILY Osmundaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Ferns of the Southeastern States (Small, 1938)
Osmunda cinnamomea
COMMON NAME:
Cinnamon Fern
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
Alan S. Weakley asw_238806448549786
April Orange County NC
North Carolina Botanical Garden
)
Emily B. Sessa ebsocinnamomea_8596
April
Fiddleheads' silvery-white hairs turn cinnamon-brown as frond expand, per Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America.
)
Jim Fanning jcf_cinnamonfern
April Pickens County SC
SC Botanical Garden
Sterile fronds 20-60" long or more, mostly erect or arching, per Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm220412_6678
April Greenville County SC
Bald Rock Heritage Preserve
)
Stephanie C. Brundage scb_041421hayesville14
April Clay County NC
)
Emily B. Sessa ebsocinnamomea_9342
May
)
Emily B. Sessa ebsocinnamomea_9359
May
Fiddleheads large and densely covered with silvery-white hairs, per Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America.
)
Emily B. Sessa ebsocinnamomea_9379
May
)
Emily B. Sessa ebsocinnamomea_9445
May
Rachis smooth, green; semi-grooved in front, per Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America.
)
Emily B. Sessa ebsocinnamomea_9452
May
Only Cinnamon Fern has tan tufts of wool at pinnae bases ("hairy armpits"), per Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America.
COMPARE
armpits of Cinnamon and Interrupted Fern
)
Emily B. Sessa ebsocinnamomea_9455
May
)
JK Marlow jkm0305r_12
May Haywood County NC
Corneille Bryan Native Garden
)
JK Marlow jkm0405t_30
May Transylvania County NC
DuPont State Forest
)
JK Marlow jkm0505k_36
May Haywood County NC
Corneille Bryan Native Garden
Fertile leaves brown, narrower & shorter than the sterile, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm100515_041
May Henderson County NC
Pisgah National Forest: Pisgah Ranger District
Cinnamon Fern on the left, Royal Fern on the right.
)
JK Marlow jkm100515_053
May Henderson County NC
Pisgah National Forest: Pisgah Ranger District
Stipe covered with cinnamon wool at first, later smooth and green, per Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm100515_079
May Henderson County NC
Pisgah National Forest: Pisgah Ranger District
)
JK Marlow jkm100515_090
May Henderson County NC
Pisgah National Forest: Pisgah Ranger District
Fertile fronds bright green at first, soon turning cinnamon-brown, per Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America.
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_o_cinnamomeum
May
)
Tim Spira tpsocinnamomea
May
)
Tim Spira tpsocinnamomea_fiddlehd
May
)
Emily B. Sessa ebsocinnamomea_0563
June
)
JK Marlow jkm090610_028
June Transylvania County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm100606_135
June Greenville County SC
Chandler Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm100606_137
June Greenville County SC
Chandler Heritage Preserve
Tufts of white to light brown hairs at base of pinna, per Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm0507f_22
July Pocahontas County WV
Cranberry Glades Botanical Area
)
JK Marlow jkm0507g_29
July Pocahontas County WV
Cranberry Glades Botanical Area
)
JK Marlow jkm0509a_32b
September Transylvania County NC
DuPont State Forest
Leaflets deeply lobed (pinnate-pinnatifid); lobes rounded &slightly pointed, per Ferns of the Smokies (Evans, 2005).
COMPARE
pinnae of Cinnamon and Interrupted Fern
)
JK Marlow jkm181104_5606
November Oconee County SC
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Osmundastrum cinnamomeum
FAMILY
Osmundaceae
INCLUDING
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Osmunda cinnamomea var. cinnamomea
FAMILY
Osmundaceae
INCLUDING
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Osmundastrum cinnamomeum var. cinnamomeum
INCLUDING
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Osmundastrum cinnamomeum var. glandulosum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
The Ferns and Lycophytes of Texas (Diggs & Lipscomb, 2014)
Osmundastrum cinnamomeum
INCLUDING
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Osmunda cinnamomea var. cinnamomea
INCLUDING
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Osmunda cinnamomea var. glandulosa
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 2
Osmunda cinnamomea
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 007-01-001:
Osmunda cinnamomea
FAMILY
Osmundaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Ferns of the Southeastern States (Small, 1938)
Osmunda cinnamomea
996
Fern/Fern ally
Perennial
Habitat: bogs, peatlands, pocosins, wet savannas, floodplains, blackwater stream swamps, marshes, and other wetlands, less typically in merely mesic or even dry-mesic forests, especially if seasonally sub-irrigated, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Deciduous
1-pinnate-pinnatifid
Leaves erect in a dense crown
FRUIT:
Spring
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Field Guide to the Ferns and Other Pteridophytes of Georgia (Snyder & Bruce, 1986) p034
- The Ferns and Lycophytes of Texas (Diggs & Lipscomb, 2014) p197
- Ferns of Alabama (Short & Spaulding, 2012) p141
- Ferns of the Smokies (Evans, 2005) p43
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p123
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p200
- Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America p172
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p163
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p412
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