Stats

Lifespan

Perennial

Size

Large

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Freshwater wetland

Range

Eastern North America

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Spores

Defense

Toxins

Status

Common

About

A tall, clump-forming fern with distinctive fertile fronds that turn rusty brown and bear spores instead of leaflets, giving rise to its old folk name 'flowering fern.' It thrives in wet, swampy ground and can live for decades in the same spot.

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.

Learn more

• View on iNaturalist →

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Polypodiopsida

Order

Osmundales

Family

Osmundaceae

Genus

Osmunda

Species

Osmunda spectabilis