Cinnamon Fern

A common, upright and relatively tall fern with arching leaves arising in a circular cluster. Sterile leaves 3 feet or more, twice-cut, widest towards the base and with a long, smooth, yellowish round stalk with a slight groove anteriorly. Leaflets narrow, pointed, deeply cut almost to the axis and with fuzzy tufts at the base where it joins the main axis. Fertile leaves appear early as erect, club-shaped structures with many upward-pointing pairs of modified, cinnamon-brown, spore-producing leaflets.

(Photographed at Eagle Lake - August 29, 2002)