Stats

Lifespan

Perennial

Size

Large

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Freshwater wetland

Range

Americas and East Asia

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Spores

Defense

Toxins

Status

Common

About

A wetland fern that unfurls bright green fronds each spring, followed by separate cinnamon-brown fertile fronds covered in spore capsules that give the species its name. Its fibrous root mass, known commercially as osmunda fiber, has long been prized as a growing medium for orchids.

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

Osmundastrum

Species

Osmundastrum cinnamomeum