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Woodwardia areolata
(L.) T.Moore
Netted Chain Fern
Blechnaceae
Woodwardia areolata is a species of fern in the family Blechnaceae. It is native to Nova Scotia and the eastern United States, and is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental.
Description
Woodwardia areolata is a fern that creeps via rhizomes; rhizomes are densely covered in small, brown, broadly lanceolate scales. Fronds are deciduous, and dimorphic between the sterile and fertile ones. Sterile fronds are about 40 to 58 cm long, lanceolate, pinnatifid. Sterile fronds have 7 to 12 alternate pairs of lobes that are lanceolate, about 3 to 11 cm wide and 1 to 2.5 cm long. The veins are anastomosing (merging back into each other). Fertile fronds are slightly longer, about 49-70, and have very narrow lobes that are linear, about 0.2 to 0.5 cm wide. These contain sori on either side of the pinna rachises, and are sunken into the blades. Sori are linear-oblong, with an indusium that covers the sporangia (FNAEC 1993).
Woodwardia areolata can easily be distinguished from the other species of Woodwardia in North America by its sterile leaf blades, which are pinnatifid (not pinnate), anastomosing veins, and fertile blades which appear very different from its sterile blades (FNAEC 1993). It is sometimes classified in a separate genus, Lorinseria, of which it is the only member (Gasper et al. 2016). It can appear similar to Onoclea sensibilis when sterile, but that species has pale green sterile blades that are usually fairly wavy at the margins (FNAEC 1993).
Woodwardia areolata can easily be distinguished from the other species of Woodwardia in North America by its sterile leaf blades, which are pinnatifid (not pinnate), anastomosing veins, and fertile blades which appear very different from its sterile blades (FNAEC 1993). It is sometimes classified in a separate genus, Lorinseria, of which it is the only member (Gasper et al. 2016). It can appear similar to Onoclea sensibilis when sterile, but that species has pale green sterile blades that are usually fairly wavy at the margins (FNAEC 1993).
Uses
​Note: Please see the disclaimer regarding any information about medical or edible uses.
Woodwardia areolata is occasionally grown as a groundcover. It grows in USDA zones 5 to 9 (Cullina 2008).
Distribution
Woodwardia areolata is found in acidic bogs, wet woods, meadows, and wetlands, at altitudes up to 600 m (FNAEC 1993; Smith 2016). It is native to North America, from Nova Scotia to New Hampshire to south to Georgia and Florida, west to the Mississippi River, with some populations north to Ohio, as well as Missouri, southeastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana. It is apparently locally extinct in Maine (FNAEC 1993).
Status
Woodwardia areolata is listed on the IUCN Red List as "Least Concern", since it has a widespread range and the population is stable enough to not be at risk of decline (Smith 2016).
References
Cullina, W. 2008. Native ferns, moss & grasses. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
FNAEC (Flora of North America Editorial Committee), editor. 1993. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 2: Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gasper, A. L., Dittrich, V. A., Smith, A. R., and Salino, A. 2016. A classification for Blechnaceae (Polypodiales: Polypodiopsida): New genera, resurrected names, and combinations. Phytotaxa, 275: 191.
Smith, K. 2016. Woodwardia areolata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T64326311A67731267.en.
FNAEC (Flora of North America Editorial Committee), editor. 1993. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 2: Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gasper, A. L., Dittrich, V. A., Smith, A. R., and Salino, A. 2016. A classification for Blechnaceae (Polypodiales: Polypodiopsida): New genera, resurrected names, and combinations. Phytotaxa, 275: 191.
Smith, K. 2016. Woodwardia areolata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T64326311A67731267.en.
Description
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