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Osmunda L.

Scientific name record
Names_Plants record source
Is NZ relevant
This is the current name
This record has descriptions
This is foreign

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Exotic
Wild
New Zealand
Political Region

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L.
L.
1753
1063
ICN
Osmunda L.
genus
Osmunda
Derivation unclear, but an old English name either for Osmund the ferryman, who saved the lives of his wife and daughter by hiding them amongst these ferns (Field 1890), or for Osmunder, the Anglo-Saxon god of thunder, equivalent to the Norse god Thor (Gledhill 2008), or King Osmund who reigned over the South Saxons about 785 AD (Burrows 1990 – see under Osmunda regalis).

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Osmunda

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Osmunda L.

Terrestrial ferns. Rhizomes thick, erect, covered with persistent stipe bases. Fronds 1-2-pinnate, covered with hairs when very young, wholly or partially dimorphic; veins free. Sporangia in dense clusters, replacing the lamina of some or all the pinnae on fertile fronds. Spores trilete.

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Etymology
Derivation unclear, but an old English name either for Osmund the ferryman, who saved the lives of his wife and daughter by hiding them amongst these ferns (Field 1890), or for Osmunder, the Anglo-Saxon god of thunder, equivalent to the Norse god Thor (Gledhill 2008), or King Osmund who reigned over the South Saxons about 785 AD (Burrows 1990 – see under Osmunda regalis).

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6aa1aac7-55db-4284-a6cf-bd547c8fab8e
scientific name
Names_Plants
1 January 2000
16 June 2024
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