protect under the dappled spook of grandiloquent forest trees , the Ceylon cinnamon fern ( Osmunda cinnamomea ) adds a lacy grain to the damp forest story . Unrolling its frond from its roots each spring , the stiff , good spore - bearing fronds mime the color of cinnamon sticks . turn it in a damp timber or near the edges of a stream or pool for a refined ornamental impression . It is stout in U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zona 4 through 9 .

Origins

Cinnamon fern ’s aboriginal range extends in North America from Newfoundland to western Ontario and south to the American Gulf Coast and New Mexico . The subspecies asiatica originate in eastern Asia . This fern relish such a wide instinctive dispersion but only arise in areas where subtlety , humusy soil and moisture abound .

Description

In mid - springiness , the fuzzy emerging fronds unfurl , lengthen to 2 to 4 foot . The unrolling frond stem are known as croziers or " fiddlehead . " These frond are light to average green and are broadly rounded but lance shaped with many leaflets and are sterile . A few week afterwards a clustering of fertile fronds emerges from the center of the aseptic green frond . The fecund fronds are stiff , upright and first pale immature before becoming rusty golden brown , as they are overlay in sporangia that release spores . Ferns do not bloom but release spore rather than seeds . The sterile fronds remain until the first fall frost , when they turn jaundiced and decease back .

Growing Requirements

Plant cinnamon bark fern in a moist , productive , hommos - rich soil that is acidic to neutral in pH ( 5.0 to 7.0 ) . If grime stay on evenly moist , this fern tolerates upwards of six hours of direct sunlight , but as a ecumenical rule , it is well sit down where it get mottled light under tall shade trees . young parting in leap tolerate significant sun initially while waiting for the woodland trees to leaf out . deflect planting it in waterlogged filth . This mintage is long - lived , and ascendant clump may be divide in early springiness . Small ferns rapidly grow from the shed spores in early summer if soil is damp and out of unmediated sunlight .

Cultural Uses

Historically , Native Americans used used Cinnamomum zeylanicum fern to handle rheumatism , headache , chills , cold and snakebites . Frond tip were rust both raw and cooked . Today the fern is esteem as a garden plant and often is grazed upon by hungry cervid . The ascendent are black , stringy and sinewy , and sometimes used as a porous medium to mount up tropic orchids . Do not destroy born point of view of cinnamon fern in the wild for these use .

Eating the Croziers

Harvest the fern croziers in spring as they uncoil , up to a sizing no great than 8 column inch . Steam or boil them until tender , or serve them hot but al dente . The fiddleheads are edible , taste like a blend of Brassica oleracea italica , asparagus and Cynara scolymus .

References

…