Woodwardia virginica.Janet Novak. ct-botanical-society.org. (Accessed 3/2014)

Woodwardia virginica is a fern from a creeping rhizome, 0.6-1 cm thick. 

Leaves closely spaced; to 1.4 m long, leaf stalk longer than blade, purple-brown, shiny, swollen near base; blade to 50 cm long, 25 cm wide, pinnate-pinnately lobed, tip long-tapered, base tapered somewhat, leaflets 15-20 per side, narrow, tapered at both ends, pointing upward, stalkless, deeply lobed with 15-20 segments per side, lobes oblong, tips blunt, veins with chain-like pattern near midrib, outer veins irregularly pinnate, dense. 

Woodwardia virginica. By Donald Cameron. Copyright © 2017 Donald Cameron.New England Wild Flower Society.gobotany.newenglandwild.org (Accessed 4/2017).

Spore cases in continuous chain-like rows, end-to-end along midribs of lobes and leaflets (Cobb 1968). 

Wetland status: OBL. 

Frequency in NYC: Very infrequent. 

Origin: Native. 

Habitat: Bogs, swamp forests, wet, acid soil.