Claytosmunda

Claytosmunda
Temporal range: Middle Triassic–Recent

Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Osmundales
Family: Osmundaceae
Section: Claytosmunda
(Y.Yatabe, N.Murak. & K.Iwats.) Metzgar & Rouhan
Species:
C. claytoniana
Binomial name
Claytosmunda claytoniana
(L.) Metzgar & Rouhan
Synonyms[2][3]

(genus)

  • Osmunda subgenus Claytosmunda

(species)

  • Osmunda claytoniana L.
  • Osmundastrum claytonianum (L.) Tagawa

Claytosmunda is a genus of fern. It has only one extant species, Claytosmunda claytoniana (synonym Osmunda claytoniana), the interrupted fern, native to Eastern Asia, Eastern United States, and Eastern Canada.

The specific epithet is named after the English-born Virginian botanist John Clayton.[4] "Interrupted" describes the gap in middle of the blade left by the fertile portions after they wither and eventually fall off.[5]

The plant is known from fossils to have grown in Europe, showing a previous circumboreal distribution. Fragmentary foliage resembling Claytosmunda has been found in the fossil record as far back as the Triassic.

  1. ^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0 - Osmunda claytoniana Interrupted Fern". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference PPGI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference POWO_77166339-1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Fernald's "Gray's Manual of Botany" (1950)
  5. ^ University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, Interrupted fern profile Archived 2013-09-27 at the Wayback Machine