Woodwardia radicans

Scientific Name: Woodwardia radicans

Family: BLECHNACEAE

Origin: Atlantic Islands & Mediterranean

Common Name: Chain Fern

There are a variety of ways that plants have evolved to reproduce. This includes asexual reproduction, where a parent plant can generate a new plant on its own without a sexual partner. This could be through stolons, rhizomes, or through human practices of propagation such as cuttings or grafting. The chain fern can reproduce asexually by the creation of a bulbil/small fern plantlet on the end of the frond. When this gets heavy enough it touches the ground and roots there. Eventually it will become separated from the parent frond and be an independent plant. Ferns can also reproduce sexually through spores which contain the genetic material needed to grow a new fern. These are normally found on the underside of the frond. They get carried away by the wind and when they land on moist earth they can germinate.

Further Reading:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/ferns-houseplants/propagating-ferns.htm

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-wmopen-biology2/chapter/asexual-reproduction-in-plants/

https://www.anbg.gov.au/ferns/fern.spore.prop.html

https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/videos/704-fern-reproduction