Botrychium

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Moonworts are seedless vascular plants of the genus Botrychium, sensu stricto. They are small, with fleshy roots, and reproduce by spores shed into the air. One part of the leaf is sterile and fernlike, the other fertile and carrying the clusters of sporangia or spore cases. Some species only occasionally emerge above ground and gain most of their nourishment from an association with mycorrhizal fungi. They are unusual among tracheophytes ("higher plants") in that at least some species produce the sugar trehalose.

The circumscription of Botrychium is disputed between different authors; some botanists include the genera Botrypus and Sceptridium within Botrychium, while others treat them as distinct. The latter treatment is provisionally followed here.


Read about Botrychium in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 

Botrychium (Greek, in allusion to the grape-like sporangia). Ophioglossaceae. A genus of mostly temperate plants allied to ferns, with fleshy roots, short underground sts., each of which bears a single free- veined lf., consisting of a short petiole, a usually triangular, divided blade, and a single erect panicle bearing the fleshy sporangia.

These plants may be grown in the hardy border, or against a building on the shady side. They require no special treatment. They are little cultivated, but are of interest to the collector or fancier.


The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.


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Botrychium lunarioides in beech/oak forest in northern Florida; March 2003.

The circumscription of Botrychium is disputed between different authors; some botanists include the genera Botrypus and Sceptridium within Botrychium, while others treat them as distinct. The latter treatment is provisionally followed here.

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