Stats

Lifespan

Perennial

Size

Medium

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

North America, Asia

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Spores

Defense

Toxins

Status

Common

About

This fern grows in the moist, shaded woodlands of North America and East Asia. Its middle fronds sprout a cluster of spore-bearing leaflets that look like a gap.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   seed

   A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2. 2.
   sprout

   A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3. 3.
   sapling

   A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4. 4.
   mature

   Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Polypodiopsida

Order

Osmundales

Family

Osmundaceae

Genus

Osmunda

Species

Osmunda claytoniana