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.
Woodwardia was first described by James Edward Smith in 1793. It was named after Thomas Jenkinson Woodward. When broadly circumscribed, the genus contains about ...