( Plant Index )
ROYAL FERN
Order: Osmundales
Family: Osmundaceae
Genus: Osmunda
Species: Osmunda regalis
Names:
- Royal Fern
- Blooming Fern
- Bog Onion
- Buckhorn Brake
- Daga [Welsh]
- Flowering Fern
- Fougère Royale [French]
- Helecho Real [Spanish]
- Herba Da Sogra [Galician]
- Keshō Shida [Japanese]
- Königsfarn [German]
- Koningsvaren [Dutch]
- Kongebregne [Danish]
- Kungsbräken [Swedish]
- Kuningasosteri [Finnish]
- Leachain Mhéith [Irish]
- Osmonde Royale [French]
- Perun’s Fern
- Regal Fern
- Reseda Gigante [Portuguese]
- Royal Flowering Fern
- Royal Osmund
- Samambaia Real [Portuguese]
- St. Christopher's Herb
- Tree Fern
- Trinta-Pés [Portuguese]
- Water Fern
- Waterside Fern
- Zenmai [Japanese]
- Zemrovka Kráľovská [Slovak]
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| Royal fern beside the river in Mimizan, France. 15 April 2024. Own work -- E Wusk |
Distribution:
- Africa, Northern: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia
- Africa, Western: Cape Verde
- Asia, Northern: Russia (North Caucasus)
- Asia, West: Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Turkey
- Europe, Central: Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland
- Europe, Eastern: Bulgaria, Ukraine
- Europe, Northern: Denmark, Norway, Sweden
- Europe, Southern: Albania, Croatia, Greece (including Crete), Italy (including Sardinia, Sicily), North Macedonia, Portugal (including Azores), Serbia, Slovenia, Spain
- Europe, Western: Belgium, England, France (including Corsica), Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland
Physical Description
This family of ferns is known as the “flowering ferns” because of the appearance of the ripe sporangia in four of its genera, including our genus of interest, Osmunda.
Ferns in this family tend to be much larger than others.
Symbolism
Named for Osmunder, the Saxon name for Thor. While this etymology is not entirely certain, it’s unlikely that its association with the Slavic thunder god, Perun, is a coincidence. This fern has a strong association with thunder and lightning.
Modern flower language holds that the royal fern means “reverie” or “fascination,” likely in reference to this fern’s spiraling fiddleheads. It also means “dreams,” possibly in reference to the fiddleheads or to the legendary wealth of the fern seed legend.
Magic
The sporangia, called “Perun’s flowers” in Slavic mythology, were credited with the power to defeat demons, fulfill wishes, unlock secrets, and reveal to one the language of trees. This is very much the same story of the flowering fern.
In this tradition, one must draw a circle around the plant and withstand the harassment of spirits. The source relayed this, uncited. The takeaway here is that there are a lot of different beliefs about this fern-flower thing, and you can play fast and loose with it.
Food
The young fiddleheads are edible when boiled and supposedly taste like asparagus.
Compiler Notes
- The “royal” quality of the fern suggests it rules over the other ferns. A magically consequential interpretation would be that the royal fern countermands or suborn spells using other ferns as reagents, foci, or other tools/materials.
- The sporangia is referred to as a “flower” while distinct from the legendary fern flower. Perhaps the legendary flower can be accessed in a diminished form via the royal fern’s sporangia.
- The secrecy quality is embedded in the spiral of the fiddlehead and the unfurling as the revelation of secrets. An unfurled fern may be a signifier of magical initiation.
- Prominent thunder/lightning god associations. This is wide open to exploitation.
Image Refs
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Osmunda_regalis_Mimizan.jpg )
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See Also:
Prestigious Plants
- Plants
- Flowers
- Trees
- Ferns
- Moss and Lichen [Pending]
- Fungi [Pending]
- Cladistic Index
- Herbal Medicine [Pending]
- Resin, Incense, Balsam, and Lacquer [Pending]
Other Ferns
- Adder's Tongue and Moonwort
- Bracken
- Horsetail Fern
- Ladyfern
- Maidenhair Fern and Brake
- Ostrich Fern
- Wood Fern
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Sources:
-Greenaway, Kate. Language of Flowers. George Routleage and Sons.
( https://powo.science.kew.org/ )
( https://www.secretflowerlanguage.com/ ) - Defunct
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmunda )
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmundaceae )
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmunda_regalis )
Name assistance provided by Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
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