Virginia chain fern, Woodwardie de virginie

Blechnum virginicum Linnaeus, Mant. Pl. [2]: 307. 1771; Anchistea virginica (Linnaeus) C. Presl

Stems long-creeping, ropelike; scales dark brown, few, triangular. Leaves monomorphic, deciduous, numerous, well separated, 50-100 cm. Petiole dark purple to black proximally, straw-colored distally, base lustrous and swollen, glabrate. Blade greenish, lanceolate, 28-60 cm, bearing mixture of glands and scales upon emergence with glands persisting. Pinnae articulate to rachis, arranged in 12-23 evenly distributed pairs, linear to narrowly lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid; middle pinnae 6-16 × 1-3.5 cm. Veins anastomosing to form a single row of areoles, then free to margin. Sori elongate, linear, superficial, often appearing confluent upon dehiscence of sporangia. Indusia ± membranous, lacking thickened cells, freely spreading, often hidden by dehisced sporangia. 2 n = 70.

Swamps, marshes, bogs, and roadside ditches over noncalcareous substrates; 0-300 m; N.B., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., W.Va.; Bermuda.

Woodwardia virginica is primarily confined to the coastal plain of eastern North America. It is not likely to be confused with any other species of the genus, but it is sometimes mistaken for Thelypteris palustris (Linnaeus) Schott, T . interrupta (Willdenow) K. Iwatsuki, or Osmunda cinnamomea . It may be distinguished from the first by having netted venation, from the second by having linear sori, and from Osmunda by having blackish petiole bases.