Osmunda japonica


Osmunda japonica, also called Asian royal fern, is a fern in the genus Osmunda native to east Asia, including Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, and the far east of Russia on Sakhalin. It is called gobi in Korean and zenmai in Japanese.
It is a deciduous herbaceous plant which produces separate fertile and sterile fronds. The sterile fronds are spreading, up to 80–100 cm tall, bipinnate, with pinnae 20–30 cm long and pinnules 4–6 cm long and 1.5–2 cm broad; the fertile fronds are erect and shorter, 20–50 cm tall.
It grows in moist woodlands and can tolerate open sunlight only if in very wet soil. Like other ferns, it has no flowers, but rather elaborate sporangia, that very superficially might suggest a flower, from which the alternative name derives.
Like its relative Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, the fertile fronds become brown-colored and contain spores. The sterile fronds resemble in form, another relative, Osmunda regalis.
In some parts of China, Tibet and Japan, the young frond or fiddlehead of Osmunda japonica is used as a vegetable. In Korea too, these young shoots are commonly used to make dishes like namul.