Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea)
At a glance
- Exposure
- Full sun
- Frost limit
- −40 °C
Cultivation
Easily grown in a damp woodland or by the margins of pools and streams. Plants are hardy to at least -20°c, they are evergreen in warm winter areas but deciduous elsewhere. This species is sometimes cultivated for its edible fronds. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer. A very ornamental plant. The rhizome is large and slowly creeping.
Propagation
Spores - they very quickly lose their viability (within 3 days) and are best sown as soon as they are ripe on the surface of a humus-rich sterilized soil in a lightly shaded place in a greenhouse. Keep the compost moist, preferably by putting a plastic bag over the pot. Plants develop very rapidly, pot on small clumps of plantlets as soon as they are large enough to handle and keep humid until they are well established. Do not plant outside until the ferns are at least 2 years old. Cultivars usually come true to type. Division of the rootstock in the dormant season. This is a very strenuous exercise due to the mass of wiry roots.
Edible uses
The young unexpanded fronds are eaten as a nibble or cooked in soups.
Medicinal uses
A decoction of the root has been rubbed into affected joints as a treatment for rheumatism. The following reports do not state which part of the plant is being used, though it is most likely that the root is being referred to. The plant is analgesic, antirheumatic and galactogogue.
Habitat
Sandy or alluvial soils.
Native range
Eastern N. America, S. America, E. Asia.