Osmundastrum cinnamomeum

The cinnamon fern is a native, herbaceous perennial fern in the royal-fern family (Osmundaceae). It has a wide natural range that includes eastern North America, the American Tropics and eastern Asia. The Asian populations of this species are often recongized as a distinct subspecies (Osmundastrum cinnamomeum subsp. asiaticum). The species epithet is Latin for “cinnamon” and references the reddish-brown color of the sporangia. 

It is easily grown in medium to wet soils in part shade to full shade. It prefers moist, rich, humus-rich, acidic soils, but adapts to poorer conditions. It naturally occurs in the moist, boggy ground along streams and on shaded ledges and bluffs. It typically grows in clumps 2 to 3 feet tall, but with constant moisture can reach 6 feet in height. It may go dormant with dry soil. It is slow to establish but long-lived. This plant has compact, horizontal rhizomes; its growth is vigorous.  

The familiar "fiddleheads" also emerge from the base of the plant and unfurl into large, erect, bipinnately compound, yellowish-green, sterile fronds (2 to 4 feet long) which remain attractive throughout the summer and turn yellow in autumn. Separate spore-bearing, stiff, fertile fronds appear in early spring, quickly turning cinnamon-brown. Osmunda fiber used in the potting of orchids comes from the roots of these ferns.

Cinnamon fern can be grown in native, rain and shade gardens. It also grows well in woodlands and alongside ponds with some shade.

Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems:  No serious problems. 

VIDEO Created by NC State Extension's Homegrown series featuring Mark Weathington, Director of JC Raulston Arboretum.