Medicinal Monday...Charismatic and Dramatic - Cinnamon Fern

Cinnamon Fern is named for its beautiful reddish-brown spikes that emerge from the center of this fern above a vase-like cluster of sterile greenish fronds. The bright cinnamon-colored fronds remain long after it sheds its spores. Native American communities use a number of different ferns native to North America for medicinal and culinary purposes including Cinnamon Fern. This is in the family of one of the oldest fern species, Oxmundaceae (Royal Fern Family), and is considered a living fossil.

About Cinnamon Fern

Osmundastrum is in the genus of leptosporangiate ferns and is in the family of Osmundaceae. Osmundastrum Cinnamomum or the cinnamon fern is native to the Americas and grows in swamps, bogs, and moist woodlands. It can be found in southern Labrador and south through the eastern United States including Connecticut. It can also be found in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. The cinnamon fern forms large colonies in moist areas and has massive rootstocks. The roots are tangled together and wiry. The fronds of this fern are either sterile or fertile. The fertile spore-bearing fronds are erect and grow up to 18 inches tall and become cinnamon-colored. The yellowish-green sterile fronds are pinnate compounded - having leaf blades growing on either side of the stalk. The oblong leaves taper to narrow tips. They are broad and deeply lobed. The sterile fronds fade to yellow in the autumn and then turn a topaz brown color.  This perennial plant typically grows in clumps of two to three feet in height but with consistent moisture, it can reach five feet in height.

Medicinal and Culinary Uses

The cinnamon fern has been used by the Abnaki and Menominee as a source of food. The young unexpanded fronds were eaten raw or cooked in soups. The young shoots are said to have a taste similar to asparagus. The Cherokee made a compound of the root and applied the mixture to treat rheumatism and chills. Some Native American communities including the Cherokee chewed a portion of the root to treat snakebite, they also applied the root to the wound. The Iroquois made a decoction of the root and used it as an analgesic to treat sore joints, headaches, colds, and women's cramps. The Menominee used a decoction of this plant as a gynecological aid to promote the flow of milk in new mothers. Some Native American communities would chop the roots up and add them to cow food to aid difficult births.

Did You Know...

The nonscientific name of the Cinnamon Fern comes from the cinnamon-brown color of the fronds that rise from the center of this plant.

A fossil of the cinnamon fern extends into the Late Cretaceous period in North America, dating approximately 70 million years ago, making it one of the oldest known living plant species.

Today, the osmunda fiber of cinnamon ferns is used to propagate and grow orchids.

The oldest known member of this genus is O. indentatum from Tasmania, Australia.