Osmunda

Osmunda, a genus of ferns of which the large British species, O. regalis, the Royal or so-called Flowering Fern, is the type. The fronds, sometimes six feet or more in height, are leathery, and the "fructifications," or sporangia, are confined to the terminal pinnae, which develop no green leafy tissue. The sporangia originate from cells other than those of the epidermis, and have the annulus represented by a' group of thick-walled cells on one side of their apices. 0. regal is grows in huge tufts in marshy spots.