Osmunda claytoniana, the Interrupted fern, is a fern native to Eastern Asia and eastern North America, in the Eastern United States and Eastern Canada. This species is named after the English-born Virginian botanist John Clayton.^[1]

The plant is known from fossils to have grown in Europe, showing a previous circumboreal distribution. Fragmentary foliage resembling Osmunda. claytoniana has been found in the fossil record as far back as the Triassic, and is known as † Osmunda claytoniites

Distribution

North America

In eastern North America it occurs in: the Great Lakes region; eastern Canada - in southern Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec (north to tree line); and east to Newfoundland; eastern United States - upper New England south through the Appalachian Mountains and Atlantic seaboard, into the Southeastern United States in Georgia and Alabama; and west across the Southern United States to Mississippi River, and back up the Mississippi embayment through the Midwestern United States to the Great Lakes.

Asia

In eastern Asia, the fern is found in the subtropical and temperate Asia in: the Eastern Himalaya, South Central China and Eastern China, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, the Ryukyu Islands, and Japan.

Ecology

Osmunda claytoniana is found in humid zones, mostly in forests, but also in more open habitats and biomes, although rarely in bogs. The interrupted fern is often found alongside Ostrich, Cinnamon and Sensitive ferns.

Description

The Osmunda claytoniana fronds are bipinnate, 40–100 cm tall and 20–30 cm broad, the blade formed of alternate segments forming an arching blade tightening to a pointed end. The lower end is also slightly thinner than the rest of the frond because the first segments are shorter. Three to seven short, cinnamon-colored fertile segments are inserted in the middle of the length, giving the plant its name.

In their absence, the plant in all its stages appears similar to Osmundastrum cinnamomeum (Cinnamon Fern). To distinguish them, look at the base of the segments; where O. cinnamomeum has typical felt-like hairs, the few hairs present on O. claytoniana are extremely short, usually requiring a magnifying glass to see well.

Like other species in the family Osmundaceae, it grows a very large rhizome, with persistent stipe bases from previous years. It forms small, dense colonies, spreading locally through its rhizome, and often forming fairy rings.

Interrupted fern in evening light

Hybrids

Osmunda × ruggii, is a hybrid between O. claytoniana and O. spectabilis (American Royal Fern). The hybrid is considered important because it suggests a closer genetic relationship between O. claytoniana and O. spectabilis than between O. claytoniana and O. cinnamomeum (a fact which has led to moving O. cinnamomeum out of Osmunda and into its own genus Osmundastrum). Osmunda × ruggii is sterile and is known from only about two natural populations, despite the many areas in which both O. claytoniana and O. regalis are found.^[2]

Uses

Medicinal

The Iroquois used the plant as a traditional healing medicinal plant, for blood and venereal diseases and conditions.^[3]

Culinary

Unlike those of the ostrich fern, the interrupted fern's fiddleheads are not readily edible, due to their bitter taste and a tendency to cause diarrhea. The base of the stipe and very young buds are edible, but should not be abused for risk of killing the crown.

Cultivation

Osmunda claytoniana is cultivated as an ornamental plant for use in traditional, native plant, and wildlife gardens; for woodlands and natural landscaping; and for habitat restoration projects. Their spreading colonizing habit can be used for some slope stabilization and erosion control measures.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Osmunda claytoniana

References

• Flora of North America: Osmunda claytoniana RangeMap:
• Flora of Taiwan: Osmunda claytoniana
• Lamoureux, Gisèle and al. (1993). Fougères, prêles et lycopodes. Fleurbec. ISBN 2-920174-13-4. 
• Phipps, C.J., Taylor, T.N., Taylor, E.L., Cuneo, N.R., Boucher, L.D., and Yao, X. (1998). Osmunda (Osmundaceae) from the Triassic of Antarctica: An example of evolutionary stasis. American Journal of Botany 85: 888-895