[Illustration: Sori and sporangia of Ostrich Fern]
This family is represented in North America by three species, all of which belong to the single genus.
The _osmundas_ are tall swamp ferns growing in large crowns from strong, thickened rootstocks; the fruiting portion of the fertile frond much contracted and quite unlike the sterile. Sporangia large, globular, short-stalked, borne on the margin of the divisions and opening into two valves by a longitudinal slit. Ring obscure. (From Osmunder, a name of the god Thor.)
_Osmúnda regàlis. Osmunda regàlis_, var. SPECTÁBILIS
Fronds pale green, one to six feet high; sterile part bipinnate, each pinna having numerous pairs of lance-oblong, serrulate pinnules alternate along the midrib. Fruiting panicle of the frond six to twelve inches long, brown when mature and sometimes leafy.
A magnificent fern, universally admired. Well named by the great Linnæus, _regalis_, royal, indeed, in its type of queenly beauty. The wine-colored stipes of the uncoiling fronds shooting up in early spring, lifting gracefully their pink pinnæ and pretty panicles of bright green spore cases, throw an indescribable charm over the meadows and clothe even the wet, stagnant swamps with beauty nor is the attraction less when the showy fronds expand in summer and the green sporangia are turned to brown. The stout rootstocks are often erect, rising several inches to a foot above the ground, as if in imitation of a tree fern. The poet Wordworth hints at somewhat different origin of the name from that given here.
"Fair ferns and flowers and chiefly that tall fern So stately of the Queen Osmanda named."
[Illustration: Royal or Flowering Fern _Osmunda regalis_]
The royal fern may be transplanted with success if given good soil, sufficient shade and plenty of water. Common in swamps and damp places. Newfoundland to Virginia and northwestward.
[Illustration: Sori of _Osmunda regalis_ (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
Fronds pinnate, one to five feet high. Pinnæ cut into oblong, obtuse lobes. Fertile fronds taller than the sterile, having from one to five pairs of intermediate pinnæ contracted and bearing sporangia.
[Illustration: Interrupted Fern. _Osmunda Claytoniàna_]