(oz-mun' dah sin-na-mo-mee' ah)

Common name: Cinnamon Fern

Family: Osmundaceae

Height x width: 3-5' x 2-3'

Growth rate: moderate

Fronds: dimorphic (2 types): sterile are the outer showy green fronds to 8" wide pinnate almost to rachis, showy large fiddleheads in spring white to rusty hairy, fronds turning yellow then bronze in fall; inner fertile fronds much smaller and growing more outwards and less erect than sterile fronds

Sori: green, clustered on central fertile fronds

Hardiness: zones 3-7

Soil: moist, prefers acidic

Light: shade, sun in north if moisture

Pests and Problems: none serious

Landscape habit, uses: woodlands, massed, background for smaller woodland plants or screen for spring ephemerals

Other interest: common name from color of hairs on rachis, and fall coloration of fronds; genus name after the Nordic God Thor, also called Osmunder; native to eastern U.S. with fiddleheads often collected in spring in the North and boiled like asparagus for eating; more vigorous in the North, not tolerating summer heat of the South; related to the other popular Royal Fern, O. regalis and Interrupted Fern, O. claytonia

Other culture: low maintenance

Propagation: spring division, spores sown immediately when ripe in mid to late summer

Cultivars: none

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