Osmunda japonica Thunb.

Rhizome erect, ascending, or shortly creeping. Fronds 2-pinnate, dimorphic, or rarely hemidimorphic, up to 150 × 50 cm; fiddleheads enveloped by pale reddish brown, long lax hairs, but glabrescent and naked in mature fronds; stipe green or straw-colored, terete, glabrous or glandular hairy when very young; sterile fronds oblong-subdeltoid, 30-50 × 25-40 cm, 2-pinnate; lowest pinnae largest, 20-30 cm; pinnules spreading, oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, 5-10 × 1-2.5 cm, papery, base truncate to subtruncate, asymmetrical, sessile, margin minutely dentate, apex acute; veins all free, lateral veins joining main veins at ca. 50° angle; fertile fronds 2-pinnate; pinnules linear, 2-4 mm wide, covered throughout with sporangia except on costae, falling soon after spore dispersal. 2n = 44.

It is a temperate plant. It grows in wet places and along the edges of stream and ponds. In China it grows between 100-3,000 m above sea level. In Sichuan.

Young fronds are eaten. They are cooked in stir fries, soups and with other foods. They are often dried and parboiled. The starch in the rhizomes is used for making noodles and liqueur.

Can be grown by divisions.