Virginia Chain Fern

Woodwardia virginica

Chain Fern Family


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This fern is quite common. Howard Boyd indicates that it is "A pernicious weed in cranberry bogs."

This fern is one of three quite similar Pine Barren ferns. The other two are the Marsh Fern and the Bog or Massachusetts Fern.

This fern can be distinguished from these other two because it has oblong spore capsules on the bottom side of the fronds. The other two have round spore capsules.

There are also two other twice cut ferns in the Pine Barrens but they have different growth habits and are easy to avoid confusing with the three ferns mentioned above. The Cinnamon Fern grows in a crown, a tight circle of fronds and the Bracken Fern has a single vertical stem which divides into three horizontal fronds.

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