Cinnamon Ferns are starting to look like frozen fireworks in the shaded woods. In the fall, these ferns turn golden before it dying dramatically.
The plant gets its name from its fertile red-brown fronds that look like sticks of cinnamon; these dark “pinnae” appear and disappear in the spring when the fern leaves are a vibrant green:
Maine’s Native Americans used the fern for treating chills and colds, among other things. The fern’s spring “fiddleheads” were eaten by them, as they still are by some of us. (Brooklin, Maine)