I love ferns, especially the wild ones and there are so many! This is my favorite one, the beautiful Cinnamon Fern. I started this one in a pot several years ago and each year it comes back, larger and more beautiful than the year before.
This fern belongs to the Osmunda family and is referred to as a Royal Fern. It is found only in moist bogs and very in shallow water so it takes a lot of water to keep it going in a large pot. It grows in large clumps with fronts reaching up to 6 feet tall. The roots of these ferns are so dense and wiry that it is almost impossible to cut through them to separate the plants. The roots are commercially cultivated and used as potting soil for growing orchids. The tall brown, cinnamon colored spore-baring organs give it its name. After the fronds come forth, they wilt away. In the fall, tall brown stems appear with lots of brown round seeds on each stalk, again showing its cinnamon color.
In spring when the Osmundas begin to emerge, they begin to push up from the earth in a coiled fashion which uncurls and forms the beautiful frond. This stage of the fronds are called "fiddleheads".
"Spinkenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:"
Song of Solomon 4:13-15 KJV
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