Flora of the Southeastern United States

Osmundastrum cinnamomeum (Linnaeus) C. Presl ssp. cinnamomeum. Common name: Cinnamon Fern. Phenology: Mar-May. Habitat: Bogs, peatlands, pocosins, wet savannas, floodplains, blackwater stream swamps, marshes, and other wetlands, less typically in merely mesic or even dry-mesic forests, especially if seasonally sub-irrigated. Distribution: NL (Labrador) west to MN, south to s. FL, c. TX; Mexico south through Central America to Uruguay and Argentina in South America; West Indies; represented in e. Asia by a relative, variously treated as a species, subspecies, variety, or not distinguished taxonomically.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: A close relative also occurs in e. Asia, where sometimes treated as a separate variety, subspecies, species, or not distinguished taxonomically; these disjunct populations are genetically distinct (Metzgar et al. 2008). We choose to recognize the Asian entity as ssp. asiaticum (Fernald) Fraser-Jenkins, rendering our North American taxon as ssp. cinnamomeum. The taxonomic significance of the densely glandular pubescent Osmundastrum cinnamomeum var. glandulosum (Waters) McAvoy needs additional evaluation; it is reported from scattered locations in e. North America, including SC and VA. Because of its geographic incoherence it is here regarded as a form, but see references for contrary points of view.

Synonymy ⓘ: = Osmunda cinnamomea L. var. cinnamomea — C; = Osmundastrum cinnamomeum (L.) C.Presl var. cinnamomeum — Arana & Ponce (2015); < Osmunda cinnamomea L. — ETx1, Fl1, FNA2, G, Il, Meso1, Mo1, Pa, RAB, S13, Sf, Tx, W, WH3, WV; > Osmunda cinnamomea L.; > Osmunda cinnamomea L. var. cinnamomea — F, Tat; > Osmunda cinnamomea L. var. frondosa A.Gray — Tat; > Osmunda cinnamomea L. var. glandulosa Waters — F; < Osmundastrum cinnamomeum (L.) C.Presl — AqW, Ar, Can, FoC, NE, Tn, TxFerns, Va, Bomfleur, Grimm, & McLoughlin (2015), Bomfleur, Grimm, & McLoughlin (2017), Metzgar et al (2008), Sylvestre, Costa, & Arana (2022); > Osmundastrum cinnamomeum ssp. cinnamomeum var. cinnamomeum — POWO; > Osmundastrum cinnamomeum ssp. cinnamomeum var. glandulosum — POWO; > Osmundastrum cinnamomeum (L.) C.Presl var. cinnamomeum — K4, NS, NY, McAvoy (2011); > Osmundastrum cinnamomeum (L.) C.Presl var. glandulosum (Waters) McAvoy — K4, NS, McAvoy (2011). Basionym: Osmunda cinnamomea L. 1753

Links to other floras: < Osmunda cinnamomea - FNA2

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Great Plains: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Midwest: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Northcentral & Northeast: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)

Heliophily ⓘ: 5