''Osmunda regalis'', or royal fern, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate ...

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entertai ...

to Europe, Africa and Asia, growing in woodland

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg ...

s and on the banks of streams. The species is sometimes known as flowering fern due to the appearance of its fertile fronds.

Names

The name ''Osmunda'' possibly derives from ''Osmunder'', a Saxon name for the god Thor. The name "royal fern" derives from its being one of the largest and most imposing European ferns. The name has been qualified as "old world royal fern" in some American literature to distinguish it from the closely related American royal fern, '' O. spectabilis''. However this terminology is not found in British literature.

Description

''Osmunda regalis'' produces separate fertile and sterile

frond A frond is a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group. Other botanists allow the term frond to also apply to the l ...

s. The sterile fronds are spreading, tall and broad, bi

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and i ...

, with 7-9 pairs of pinnae up to long, each pinna with 7-13 pairs of pinnules 2.5-6.5 cm long and 1–2 cm broad. The fertile fronds are erect and shorter, 20–50 cm tall, usually with 2-3 pairs of sterile pinnae at the base, and 7-14 pairs of fertile pinnae above bearing the densely clustered

sporangia A sporangium (; from Late Latin, ) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their lif ...

. In many areas, ''O. regalis'' has become rare as a result of wetland drainage for agriculture.

Evolution

The oldest known fossils of ''

Osmunda ''Osmunda'' is a genus of primarily temperate-zone ferns of family Osmundaceae. Five to ten species have been listed for this genus. Description Completely dimorphic fronds or pinnae (hemidimorphic), green photosynthetic sterile fronds, and n ...

'' date to the

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''palai ...

, ''Osmunda'' likely derives from fossil species currently assigned to '' Claytosmunda''.

Varieties

There are three to four varieties as traditionally construed: *''Osmunda regalis'' var. ''regalis''. Europe, Africa, southwest Asia. Sterile fronds to 160 cm tall. *''Osmunda regalis'' var. ''panigrahiana'' R.D.Dixit. Southern Asia (India). *''Osmunda regalis'' var. ''brasiliensis'' (Hook. & Grev.) Pic. Serm. Tropical regions of Central and South America; treated as a synonym of var. ''spectabilis'' by some authors. *''Osmunda regalis'' var. ''spectabilis'' (Willdenow) A.Gray. Eastern North America. Sterile fronds to 100 cm tall. Now accepted as a separate species, ''Osmunda spectabilis''.

Similar species

There are three very similar species, '' Osmunda spectabilis'', '' Osmunda lancea'' and '' Osmunda japonica''. Recent genetic analysis (Metzgar et al., 2008) has shown that the New World varieties are in a clade that is sister to the Old World varieties of ''Osmunda regalis''. If this is true, then ''O. lancea'' and ''O. japonica'' should either be regarded as varieties of ''O. regalis'', or, conversely, ''O. regalis var. spectabilis'' should be regarded as a separate species, ''Osmunda spectabilis'' Willdenow. The var. ''brasiliensis'' would then be ''Osmunda spectabilis'' Willdenow var. ''brasiliensis'' Hooker & Greville.

Cultivation

''Osmunda regalis'' is widely cultivated in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

regions. The species and the cultivar 'Cristata' have both gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ( ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

. Osmunda plants should be planted in preferably

acidic In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a se ...

, moist soil, associating well with other large moisture-loving plants such as '' Rodgersia'' and '' Gunnera''. However, it tolerates a range of soil and climatic conditions.

Other uses

The

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

s, along with those of other species of ''Osmunda'', are used for the production of osmunda fibre, used as a growing medium for cultivated

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the Family (biology), family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest fam ...

s and other epiphytic plants. According to

Slavic mythology Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who likely settled in the Balk ...

, the sporangia, called " Perun's flowers", have assorted magical powers, such as giving their holders the ability to defeat

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime, ...

s, fulfill wishes, unlock secrets, and understand the language of

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that ar ...

s. However, collecting the sporangia is a difficult and frightening process. In earlier traditions, they must be collected on Kupala night; later, after the arrival of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism, monotheistic religion based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, life and Teachings of Jesus, teachings of Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. It is the Major religious groups, world's ...

, the date is changed to

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

eve. Either way, the person wanting to collect Perun's flowers must stand within a circle drawn around the plant and withstand the taunting or threats of demons. The young shoots of the fern are, along with the similar shoots of many other fern species, known in some places as

fiddleheads Fiddleheads or fiddlehead greens are the furled fronds of a young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable. Left on the plant, each fiddlehead would unroll into a new frond ( circinate vernation). As fiddleheads are harvested early in the se ...

, and eaten as food, thought to have an asparagus-like taste.

References

*Hyde, H. A., Wade, A. E., & Harrison, S. G. (1978). ''Welsh Ferns''. National Museum of Wales. *Metzgar, Jordan S., Judith E. Skog, Elizabeth A. Zimmer, and Kathleen M. Pryer (2008). "The Paraphyly of Osmunda is Confirmed by Phylogenetic Analyses of Seven Plastid Loci." Systematic Botany, 33(1): pp. 31–36

External links

Flora Europaea: ''Osmunda regalis''Flora of North America: ''Osmunda regalis'' var. ''spectabilis''Florida Institute for Systematic Botany: ''Osmunda regalis'' var. ''spectabilis''
(including var. ''brasiliensis'' as a synonym) {{Authority control Osmundales Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Ferns of Africa Ferns of Asia Ferns of Europe Garden plants of North America