Lorinseria areolata (L.) C. Presl

Netted Chain Fern; Netleaf Chain Fern; Netvein Chain Fern

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Netted Chain Fern is a native herbaceous perennial in the Chain Fern family (Blechnaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. Netted Chain Fern occurs in acidic swamps, in seeps, and in bogs. It is a perennial with a long creeping rhizome. Leaves are deciduous and dimorphic (of two forms). The sterile leaves are pinnatifid with lanceolate pinnae, bright green in color, and glabrous. The rachis is winged and the petiole is dark reddish brown. The pinnae have serrate or crenate margins. Fertile leaves are larger and more erect than the sterile leaves. Fertile leaves are pinnate with linear pinnae. Spores are produced in chainlike rows on the lower side of the blade. The sori are sunken into the blade and covered by an indusium (a flap-like membrane). Netted Chain Fern is superficially similar to the Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis Linnaeus), with which it sometimes grows. The fertile fronds of Sensitive Fern have round bead-like sori, and the pinnae on the sterile fronds have entire margins. Netted Chain Fern is easily cultivated in organically rich, moist to wet soils in partial to full shade. Its long creeping rhizomes can allow for rapid spread, almost to the point of being weedy under ideal growing conditions.--A. Diamond

**

Native OBL (NWPL)

**