View source for Osmundaceae

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Osmundaceae (from the genus Osmunda, derived from Osmunder, the Saxon name of the god Thor). Osmunda Family. Fig. 3. Ferns of ordinary habit, rarely arborescent: rhizome mostly vertical, thick: leaves large, circinate, 1-3-pinnate, rarely thin and stomateless; petiole somewhat sheathing at the base; fibro- vascular bundle 1; veins forking: indusia wanting: sporangia scattered on the under side of the ordinary leaf, or on the margin or on both sides of modified fertile portions of the leaf, thin-walled, short-stout-pedicelled, globular; annulus imperfect, consisting of a group of cells on one side; line of dehiscence vertical, extending from this group up over the summit: prothallium ordinary, green.

There are 3 genera and 10 or 12 species of general distribution, and others in the Australian region. Three species occur in the eastern United States. The family is related to the Gleicheniaceae and Schizaeaceae. The peculiar dehiscence, and the scattered sporangia with the annulus consisting of a group of cells, instead of a ring, are distinctive.

The family has practically no economic importance, except as ornamental plants, except that the root masses are used as matrix on which to grow orchids and other epiphytic plants (see Osmundine). Some have been used in medicine, although their virtues are questionable. The family contains some of our most stately native ferns.

All three genera are in American horticulture: Leptopteris (leaves thin and no stomates); Osmunda (Royal Fern, Cinnamon Fern), Todea (Grape Fern).
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