Woodwardia is a genus of ferns in the family Blechnaceae, in the suborder Aspleniineae (eupolypods II) of the order Polypodiales.[1][2] Species are known as chain ferns. The genus is native to warm temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. They are large ferns, with fronds growing to 50–300 cm long depending on the species. The fossil record of the genus extends to the Paleocene.[3]
Woodwardia was first described by James Edward Smith in 1793.[4] It was named after Thomas Jenkinson Woodward.[5] When broadly circumscribed, the genus contains about 15 species (plus some hybrids). In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), the genera Anchistea and Lorinseria (each with one species) are kept separate.[1]
As of August 2019, Plants of the World Online accepts the following species,[6] excluding those placed in other genera in the PPG I system.[1]
Species placed elsewhere in PPG I are:[1]
Some species have large leaves, such as W. orientalis. Leaves are deeply bipinnatifid. Young leaves of W. orientalis are red and the young adventitious buds on the leaf surface are also red.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Woodwardia. Woodwardia is a genus of ferns in the family Blechnaceae, in the suborder Aspleniineae (eupolypods II) of the order Polypodiales. Species are known as chain ferns. The genus is native to warm temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. They are large ferns, with fronds growing to 50–300 cm long depending on the species. The fossil record of the genus extends to the Paleocene.
