• Cinnamon fern has leafy fronds and thin fronds.Jupiterimages/liquidlibrary/Getty Images
  
  Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) has green, leafy fronds and thin fronds with light brown hairs. The brown color and the stick shape of the thin fronds give the plant the name "cinnamon." It grows in the moist soils of the eastern parts of North America.
  
  

Distribution

• Cinnamon ferns grow in the eastern areas of North America. In the United States, they grow in and to the east of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. The species is vulnerable to commercial exploitation in Florida and New York and it has an endangered status in Iowa. Cinnamon ferns grow in moist soil in the woods, swamps, bogs, marshes, wet ditches and stream banks. They prefer growing in partial shade, but can grow in the sun as long as they get enough water. If the ferns don't get sufficient moisture, the fronds could die back. Several cinnamon fern plants usually grow in a large group.
  
  

Features

• Cinnamon ferns have two types of fronds. The green, leafy fronds grow to 6 feet long and 1 foot wide. The smaller fronds grow upright, bright green at first and turning into a cinnamon color as they mature. The leafy fronds grow in early spring; they first look like skinny stems called fiddleheads and later uncoil to display leaves. After the leafy fronds mature, the cinnamon-colored fronds grow, develop spores and wilt after dispersing the spores. The wilted fronds then fall to the ground. At the first frost, the ferns lose their leaves.
  
  

Reproduction

• Most types of ferns develop spores on the underside of the leaves. Unlike most ferns, cinnamon fern has sterile leafy fronds and fertile fronds with cinnamon-colored hairs. The spores spread by wind and develop into cinnamon ferns in other areas. Cinnamon ferns also have underground stems known as rhizomes, which spread and grow new plants. Because of these rhizomes, cinnamon ferns usually grow in large groups or colonies.