Moonworts: a taxonomic puzzle

Publication Type:

Magazine Article

Authors:

Swartz, Linda

Source:

Sage Notes, Idaho Native Plant Society, Volume 20, Issue 4, p.16-17 (1998)

Call Number:

U98SWA01IDUS

Keywords:

Botrychium

Abstract:

The genus Botrychium has been the focus of increasing botanical interest in the last couple of decades. The one you are most likely to see is the common grape fern, Botrychium virginianum, the largest and most widespread member of the genus in North America. Grape ferns can be up to a couple of feet tall, and like all botrychiums they have only a single leaf, divided into two branches: a green, leafy, non-reproductive trophophore, and a sporophore bearing many round sporangia that turn yellow or brown as they mature. The clusters of sporangia reminded botanists of clusters of grapes (Greek botrys). This arrangement is rather different from the fronds of familiar ferns like the lady-fern. They sporangia are also fundamentally different, being thick walled, opening by a slit, and containing thousands of spores, while as you can easily see with a hand lens, those of lady-fern have thin walls with an annular ring that dramatically shoots out the 64 spores as they dry. In fact, some botanists have questioned whether botrychiums are ferns at all, and suggested that they are actually related more closely to cycads (seed plants) with whom they share several anatomical features.