SPECIES: Woodwardia virginica
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| Virginia chainfern frond. Image by Robert H. Mohlenbrock. USDA SCS. 1991. Southern wetland flora: Field office guide to plant species. South National Technical Center, Fort Worth. Courtesy of USDA NRCS Wetland Science Institute. |
Introductory
SPECIES: Woodwardia virginica
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Walkup, Crystal J. 1991. Woodwardia virginica. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/fern/woovir/all.html [].
Revisions:
On 4 April 2018, the common name of this species was changed in FEIS
from: Virginia chain-fern
to: Virginia chainfern. Images were also added.
ABBREVIATION :
WOOVIR
SYNONYMS :
Anchistea virginica (L.) C. Presl
NRCS PLANT CODE :
WOVI
COMMON NAMES :
Virginia chainfern
chainfern
chain-fern
giant chainfern
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for Virginia chainfern is Woodwardia
virginica (L.) Smith. (Blechnaceae). There are no recognized subspecies,
varieties, or forms.
LIFE FORM :
Fern
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Woodwardia virginica
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Virginia chainfern is found throughout the eastern United States from Ontario
and Nova Scotia south to Florida and Louisiana, and reaches as far west
as Michigan [18].
 |
| Distribution of Virginia chainfern. Map courtesy of USDA, NRCS. 2018. The PLANTS Database.
National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC [19] [2018, April 4]. |
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES10 White - red - jack pine
FRES11 Spruce - fir
FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
STATES :
AL AR CT DE FL GA IL IN KY LA
ME MD MA MI MS NH NJ NY NC OH
PA RI SC TX VT VA NB NS ON PE
PQ
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K090 Live oak - sea oats
K091 Cypress savanna
K094 Conifer bog
K095 Great Lakes pine forest
K096 Northeastern spruce - fir forest
K101 Elm - ash forest
K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K113 Southern floodplain forest
K114 Pocosin
K116 Subtropical pine forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
20 White pine - northern red oak - red maple
23 Eastern hemlock
31 Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
32 Red spruce
33 Red spruce - balsam fir
37 Northern white cedar
39 Black ash - American elm - red maple
62 Silver maple - sycamore
70 Longleaf pine
71 Longleaf pine - scrub oak
74 Cabbage palmetto
75 Shortleaf pine
76 Shortleaf pine - oak
79 Virginia pine
80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
81 Loblolly pine
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
84 Slash pine
101 Baldcypress
103 Water tupelo - swamp tupelo
104 Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay
105 Tropical hardwoods
106 Mangrove
111 South Florida slash pine
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Woodwardia virginica
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
NO-ENTRY
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Combined logging and burning decreases Virginia chainfern density when compared
to either treatment alone [8].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Woodwardia virginica
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Virginia chainfern 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.
Virginia chainfern is often mistaken for cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea),
which grows in clusters from individual crowns rather than rhizomes
[2,18].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Geophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Vegetative: Virginia chainfern has creeping rhizomes which fork, zigzag, and
curve as they grow [16].
Sexual: Virginia chainferns 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 :
Virginia chainfern 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 Virginia chainfern decreases in composition [15]. Soils are generally
acidic sands, clays, and peat. Virginia chainfern tolerates a lower degree of
acidity than other species of Woodwardia [3,9,12].
Virginia chainfern 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, Virginia chainfern 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 :
Virginia chainfern 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].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Woodwardia virginica
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Virginia chainfern survives fire by sprouting from rhizomes [20].
FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
survivor species; on-site surviving rhizomes
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Woodwardia virginica
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Virginia chainfern is top-killed by fire.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Virginia chainfern was found in recently burned areas of the Dismal Swamp,
indicating rapid regeneration following fire [20]. In the Okefenokee
Swamp, "prairies" result from severe fires which kill woody vegetation
and burn away the upper part of the peat bed. Virginia chainferns may not
survive these fires, but several herbaceous plants, including Virginia chainfern,
eventually invade the "prairies" [5].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
References for species: Woodwardia virginica
1. Bernard, Stephen R.; Brown, Kenneth F. 1977. Distribution of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's associations for the eleven western states. Tech. Note 301. Denver, CO: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 169 p. [434]
2. Cobb, Broughton. 1956. A field guide to the ferns. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 281 p. [21691]
3. Cody, W. J. 1963. Woodwardia in Canada. American Fern Journal. 52: 17-27. [15773]
4. Crandall, Dorothy L. 1965. County distribution of ferns and fern allies in Rhode Island. American Fern Journal. 55(3): 98-112. [15915]
5. Cypert, Eugene. 1973. Plant succession on burned areas in Okefenokee Swamp following the fires of 1954 and 1955. In: Proceedings, annual Tall Timbers fire ecology conference; 1972 June 8-9; Lubbock, TX. Number 12. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station: 199-217. [8467]
6. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p. [905]
7. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others]. 1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998]
8. Gunderson, Lance H. 1984. Regeneration of cypress in logged and burned strands at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Florida. In: Ewel, Katherine Carter; Odum, Howard T., eds. Cypress swamps. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press: 349-357. [14857]
9. Hill, Royce H. 1971. Comparative habitat requirements for spore germination and prothallial growth of three ferns in southeastern Michigan. American Fern Journal. 61(4): 171-182. [15916]
10. Hollinshead, Martha H. 1938. Ferns of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Torreya. 38: 63-66. [11623]
11. Kuchler, A. W. 1964. Manual to accompany the map of potential vegetation of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York: American Geographical Society. 77 p. [1384]
12. Lucansky, Terry W. 1981. Chain ferns of Florida. American Fern Journal. 71(4): 101-108. [15650]
13. Lyon, L. Jack; Stickney, Peter F. 1976. Early vegetal succession following large northern Rocky Mountain wildfires. In: Proceedings, Tall Timbers fire ecology conference and Intermountain Fire Research Council fire and land management symposium; 1974 October 8-10; Missoula, MT. No. 14. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station: 355-373. [1496]
14. Magee, Dennis W. 1981. Freshwater wetlands: A guide to common indicator plants of the Northeast. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press. 245 p. [14824]
15. Monk, Carl D.; Brown, Timothy W. 1965. Ecological consideration of cypress heads in north-central Florida. The American Midland Naturalist. 74: 126-140. [10848]
16. Pittillo, J. Dan; Wagner, W. H., Jr.; Farrar, Donald R.; Leonard, S. W. 1975. New Pteridophyte records in the Highlands Biological Station area, southern Appalachians. Castanea. 40(4): 263-272. [14230]
17. Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p. [2843]
18. Small, John Kunkel. 1938. Ferns of the southeastern United States. 2d ed. New York: Hafner Publishing Co. 517 p. [15880]
19. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. 2018. PLANTS Database, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (Producer). Available: https://plants.usda.gov/. [34262]
20. Whitehead, Donald R. 1972. Developmental and environmental history of the Dismal Swamp. Ecological Monographs. 42(3): 301-315. [15097]
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