A Beautiful Unfolding

Interrupted fern fiddlehead unfolding
Osmunda claytonia

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Interrupted Fern Fiddleheads

Osmunda claytonia

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Interrupted Fern Fiddle Heads

My interrupted ferns have popped up again for another season! I wouldn't eat these. Fiddle heads taste awful enough, and some species are not good for you. I have not researched whether these are edible because I don't like fiddle heads at all. This area of interrupted ferns grows near my spring-fed well up in the woods. You can read all about these ferns here on the blog.

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The Life Cycle of Interrupted Ferns: Part 2: The Interruption Appears

This is the second of a three part series on the life cycle of interrupted ferns from May 4 - June 15. In this installment you will see the fiddleheads growing larger, the ferns growing taller and the spore appear. The first two photos, above and below, are from May 14 — 10 days after the tiny fiddleheads appeared on the bank of my brook in the woods. The way the fronds grow is so mathematically rich that I focused on them entirely.

The photograph below is from May 17. You can see how tall the ferns have grown.

This is the only Vermont fern that has the spore in the middle of the frond — which is why it is called "interrupted." In this photo you can see this clearly. Click on any of the photographs to see them full-size in a new window. I first spotted the spore on May 17. The last two photos are from May 24 — seven days later. The spore are more pronounced. Please click here and here to see macros of the spore itself.

I will continue this series with one more post for summer growth. In the fall and winter I will pick it up again to see what happens to interrupted ferns then.

Related posts:

The Life Cycle of Interrupted Ferns, part 1

ABC Wednesday: S is for Spore

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The Life Cycle of Interrupted Ferns

above and below: fiddleheads from May 4, 2008 on a bank of a mountain brook in my woods

below: after six days of growth — May 10, 2008

When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.
Identified by: Professor David Barrington
Professor of Plant Biology
Director, Pringle Herbarium
University of Vermont
webpage: http://www.uvm.edu/~plantbio/?Page=faculty.php&NAME=barrington

According to Dr. Barrington: "Your fern is the interrupted fern, Osmunda regalis. The white hairs are characteristic of our three Osmunda species, and among these interrupted fern is the only one in which the spore producing capsules are produced in the middle of the leaves."

In the upcoming days, I will be posting the rest of the photos of this fern as it grows.

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