Anchistea virginica(L.) C.Presl

Virginia chainfern

WFO wfo-0001110381 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Anchistea virginica, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. a Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-14 / obs. 197946081
Anchistea virginica, photographed by Neli Kanonerova
fig. b Neli Kanonerova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194618139
Anchistea virginica, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. c Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190519880
Anchistea virginica, photographed by Ryan Watson
fig. d Ryan Watson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 185187754
Anchistea virginica, photographed by Athena Philips
fig. e Athena Philips, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182095085
Anchistea virginica, photographed by Athena Philips
fig. f Athena Philips, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182083236
Anchistea virginica, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. g Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182125150
Anchistea virginica, photographed by Austin Pursley
fig. h Austin Pursley, CC0 1.0 / obs. 178483831

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 34 botanical countries

Regions where Anchistea virginica is native: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia AlabamaArkansasConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMississippiNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaNova ScotiaOhioOntarioPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVermontVirginiaWest Virginia DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Anchistea virginica, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Mississippi MSI
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 2,029 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -12.3 °C 7.6 °C 15.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 23.6 °C 30.8 °C 32.7 °C
Annual rainfall 1,018 mm 1,348 mm 1,629 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 154 mm 208 mm 339 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 2,029 research-grade observations of Anchistea virginica that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 11 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Anchistea virginica f. fertilis (Farw.) M.Broun
  • Blechnum banisterianum Poir.
  • Blechnum carolinianum Walter
  • Blechnum virginicum L.
  • Doodia virginica (L.) C.Presl
  • Lorinseria thelypteroides (Pursh) C.Presl
  • Woodwardia banisteriana Michx.
  • Woodwardia thelypteroides Pursh
  • Woodwardia virginica (L.) Sm.
  • Woodwardia virginica f. fertilis Farw.
  • Woodwardia virginica f. thelypteroides (Pursh) Gilbert

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol WOVI. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.