Royal Fern

Order: Polypodiales

Family: Osmundiales

Genus: Osmunda

Species: O. regalis

Identifying Characteristics:

- Dark green

- Sterile fronds: 60-160 cm tall and 30-40 cm wide

- bipinnate, with 7-9 pairs of pinnae up to 30 cm long

- each pinna have 7-13 pairs of pinnules (real little leaves on the pinna), 2.5-6.5 cm long and 1-2 cm wide

- pinnae have densely-clustered sporangia

Special Adaptations:

- deciduous herbaceous plant

- sometimes known as the flowering fern

- found in wet soil along streams and lakeshores, in bogs, and in wet meadows

- sporangia help capture sunlight