Osmunda

Authority

Proctor, George R. 1989. Ferns of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 53: 1-389.

Family

Osmundaceae

Scientific Name

Osmunda

Description

Species Description - Coarse plants of bogs and wet savannas, with creeping rhizomes of massive appearance due to the surrounding dense mass of black, wiry roots and persistent stipe-bases. Fronds loosely and deciduously woolly-tomentose, wholly or partly dimorphic; stipes broadly winged at base; blades 1-2-pinnate; veins forked, free. Spores coarsely rugose or crested with slender echinate processes. Chromosomes: n = 22.

Discussion

Type Species. Osmunda regalis Linnaeus, of wide distribution.

genus of between 6 and 14 species (opinions differ as to the relative distinctness of some forms), of which two occur in the neotropical region, one of them in Puerto Rico. The generic name has been said to be derived from "Osmunder," a Saxon epithet for the god Thor, or else from Latin os (bone) + munda (cure), alluding to the use of the roots as a remedy for rickets; or else from os + mundae (to clean), because it was used medically to clean bones.