Woodwardia areolata

Woodwardia areolata
Fronds of W. areolata.

Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pteridophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Polypodiales
(unranked): Eupolypods II
Family: Blechnaceae
Genus: Woodwardia
Species: W. areolata
Binomial name
Woodwardia areolata
(L.) T.Moore

Woodwardia areolata (netted chain fern) is a species of fern native to eastern North America. It is usually treated in the genus Woodwardia, in the eupolypods II clade[1] of the order Polypodiales,[2] in the class Polypodiopsida.[3] It is sometimes transferred to the monotypic genus Lorinseria as Lorinseria areolata (L.) C.Presl, on the basis of its anastamosing veins and lobed frond form, as well as its more marked frond dimorphism; however, the genus name Lorinseria is invalid, being an orthographical variant of Lorinsera Opiz (Flora of North America).

The sterile fronds are 40–60 cm long, and the fertile fronds 50–70 cm long.

It is superficially similar to Onoclea sensibilis and sometimes confused with it.

Distribution and Habitat

This species is native to the southeast United States, but ranges all the way up the East Coast of the United States and Canada to southern Nova Scotia. It favors moist, sandy, acid soils, and has appeared in areas in the interior of the US around acid mine seeps, thus being one of the few species to benefit from acid mine drainage.

Range map for the netted chain fern, Woodwardia areolata

References

  1. ↑ Carl J. Rothfels; Anders Larsson; Li-Yaung Kuo; Petra Korall; Wen- Liang Chiou; Kathleen M. Pryer (2012). "Overcoming Deep Roots, Fast Rates, and Short Internodes to Resolve the Ancient Rapid Radiation of Eupolypod II Ferns". Systematic Biology. 61 (1): 70. doi:10.1093/sysbio/sys001. PMID 22223449.
  2. ↑ Maarten J. M. Christenhusz, Xian-Chun Zhang & Harald Schneider (2011). "A linear sequence of extant families and genera of lycophytes and ferns" (PDF). Phytotaxa. 19: 7–54.
  3. ↑ Alan R. Smith, Kathleen M. Pryer, Eric Schuettpelz, Petra Korall, Harald Schneider & Paul G. Wolf (2006). "A classification for extant ferns" (PDF). Taxon. 55 (3): 705–731. doi:10.2307/25065646.
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