Royal Fern

Osmunda regalis

Royal Fern Family --- Osmundaceae

Compound (twice-divided) leaves about 20 to 40 inches long. Slightly offset leaflets (5 to 7 pairs) each having to 7 to 10 alternate, narrow, oblong, quite short-stalked subleaflets.

A graceful, upright fern growing at the edges of lakes and streams.

At the tips of some leaves, leaflets are modified as compact, dark brown to cinnamon coloured groups of spore cases (spore producing fruiting bodies or sporangia).

(Photographed at Eagle Lake -- August 18, 2002)