BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Woodwardia virginica | Chain-Fern 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Chain-fern is a deciduous, perennial, upright fern with long,
purple-brown stalks.  Plants are tall with an average leaf length of 4.8
feet (1.5 m).  Leaves grow in close masses from creeping rhizomes.
Roots, other than rhizomes, occur as few, elongate, slender fibers.
Chain-fern is often mistaken for cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea),
which grows in clusters from individual crowns rather than rhizomes
[2,18].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Undisturbed State:  Cryptophyte (geophyte)
   Burned or Clipped State:  Cryptopyte (geophyte)


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Vegetative:  Chain-fern has creeping rhizomes which fork, zigzag, and
curve as they grow [16].

Sexual:  Chain-ferns produce spores which go through an asexual stage,
followed by a sexual stage.  Plants often remain sterile until a
disturbance such as fire or beaver activity stimulates fertility.  Exact
factors for inducing fertility remain unknown [16].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Chain-fern grows in low, wet areas.  Though found in the open, it
thrives in partial shade around the bases of trees or among cypress
knees.  It is commonly found in swamps, cypress ponds, marshes, low
prairies, and adjacent hammocks [18].  Roots are usually found growing
in water, often a foot or more deep [2].  However, as flooding depth
increases chain-fern decreases in composition [15].  Soils are generally
acidic sands, clays, and peat.  Chain-fern tolerates a lower degree of
acidity than other species of Woodwardia [3,9,12].

Chain-fern is especially prevalent in the Great Swamp and cranberry bogs
of Rhode Island [4].  It is also one of the principal species of the
open marsh "prairies" in the Okefenokee Swamp [5].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
In the New Jersey Pine Barrens, chain-fern occurs in the second stage of
succession following cutting or burning of cedar swamps.  It grows in
the understory of alders (Alnus spp.) along with magnolias (Magnolia
spp.).  It is preceded by common cattail (Typha latifolia) and wool
grass (Scirpus spp.) [10].



SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Chain-fern fronds grow from the end of February to the end of October,
when leaf drop occurs.  Spores mature in summer and fall and are best
collected from May to September for propagation [18].

Related categories for Species: Woodwardia virginica | Chain-Fern