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| Botrychium lunaria
(L.) Sw. |
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| TAXONOMY |
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| Family: |
Ophioglossaceae |
| Genus: |
Botrychium |
| |
| Species Synonyms: |
Botrychium onondagense Underwood
Botrychium lunaria var. onondagense (Underwood) House |
| Common Names: |
common moonwort
moonwort grapefern |
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| DISTRIBUTION |
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| Canada: |
Yukon Territory – southern Keewatin District
– Ungava – Labrador, south to southern British Columbia –
east central Saskatchewan – Ontario – Nova Scotia – Newfoundland |
| Saskatchewan: |
widely distributed; Cypress Hills – Southend |
| Ecoregion: |
Cypress Upland, Moist Mixed Grassland, Aspen Parkland,
Boreal Transition, Mid-Boreal Upland, Mid-Boreal Lowland, Churchill River
Upland |
| |
| HABITAT |
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| Saskatchewan: |
semi-open to open woods, drying
prairie sloughs, moist meadows, and aspen woods |
| Associated species: |
American pasqueflower, buffaloberry,
common yarrow, golden sedge, ground plum, needle and thread grass, northern
grass of Parnassus, small leaf pussytoes, spurred gentian, willow |
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| RARITY STATUS |
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Provincial
Status According
to Harms (2003): |
Threatened |
| Nature Conservancy
Status: |
G4T4 S1T1 |
Saskatchewan
Species at
Risk Status: |
None |
| COSEWIC Status:
|
None |
| |
| Common moonwort
is threatened in Saskatchewan because it is rare or uncommon and is limited
to two or three general locations in the province. The populations are almost
always locally sparse. No immediate threats have been identified for this
species. |
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| SPECIES
DESCRIPTION |
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| Height: |
< 25 cm, stout and fleshy |
| Stipe: |
common stalk 2 – 10 cm
long, sheath enclosing bud |
| Fronds: |
solitary, sterile blade sessile
or short-stalked, stalk 0 – 1 mm long, inserted about the middle of
the plant, blade to 2 – 5 cm long, 1 – 2 cm wide, oblong, once
pinnate, thick, fleshy; pinnae 3 – 9 pairs, 2 – 8 mm long, wider
than long, spreading, overlapping, distance between first and second pinnae
equal to or slightly more than between second and third pairs, broadly fan-shaped,
midrib absent, basal pinnae equal in size to second pair, margin entire
or wavy or square-toothed; fertile stalk 2 – 8 cm long, blade 1 –
2 times as long as the sterile blade, 1 – 2 times pinnate |
| Sporangia: |
sessile, crowded laterally on
branches, round |
| Spores: |
small, yellow |
| |
| BOTRYCHIUM
KEY FOR SPECIES FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN |
| |
| 1 Sterile blades 5 – 25 cm long,
triangular, 2 – 4 times pinnately compound; fertile blades may be
absent; plants over 12 cm tall |
2 |
| 1 Sterile blades 2 – 5 cm long
or absent, oblong to linear or triangular, simple to pinnate or pinnatifed;
fertile blades always present; plants less than 15 cm tall |
3 |
| |
|
2 Sterile blades thin; sheaths on
common stalk open; fertile blades, when present, arising from high ;on common
stalk; common stalk usually longer than 10 cm, hairless
|
B. virginianum |
| 2 Sterile blades herbaceous or thick
to leathery; sheaths on common stalk closed; fertile blades, when present,
arising from the basal portion of the common stalk; common stalk less than
8 cm long, somewhat hairy |
B. multifidum |
| |
|
| 3 Sterile blades linear to oblong,
simple to lobed; plants in deep shade under shrubs and trees |
B. simplex |
| 3 Sterile blades linear to triangular,
pinnate or absent; plants usually in exposed sites |
4 |
| |
|
| 4 Distance between first and second
pinnae greater than that between second and third pairs |
B. simplex |
| 4 Distance between first and second
pinnae equal to or slightly more than between second and third pairs or
sterile blade absent |
5 |
| |
|
| 5 Sterile blades present, basal pinnae
fan-shaped to spoon-shaped, midrib absent |
6 |
| 5 Sterile may be replaced by fertile
blade, basal pinnae inversely lanceolate to linear to oval, midrib present |
9 |
| |
|
| 6 Sterile blades oval to triangular |
B. simplex |
| 6 Sterile blades oblong to lance-shaped |
7 |
| |
|
| 7 Sterile blades thick and leathery,
dark greyish-green to yellowish; basal pinnae broadly fan-shaped |
B. lunaria |
| 7 Sterile blades thin (except B. campestre),
dark to light green or yellowish; basal pinnae narrowly fan-shaped or wedge-shaped
to linear |
8 |
| |
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| 8 Sterile blades folded longitudinally,
up to 5 pairs of pinnae; plants of prairies or meadows |
B. campestre |
| 8 Sterile blades flat or folded only
at the base, up to 10 pairs of pinnae; plants of woodlands |
B. minganense |
| |
|
| 9 Sterile blade replaced by fertile
blade, resulting in two fertile blades |
B. paradoxum |
| 9 Sterile blade present, distinct
from fertile blade |
10 |
| |
|
| 10 Sterile blades subsessile, blades
triangular; fertile blades divided equally several times, about equal to
2.5 times longer than sterile blades |
B. lanceolatum |
| 10 Sterile blades oval to oblong or
triangular; fertile blades with one main axis, 2 – 4 times longer
than sterile blades |
11 |
| |
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| 11 Sterile blade long-stalked, stalk
equal to length of blade; few spore sacs may be present on the basal pinnae
of sterile blade |
B. pedunculosum |
| 11 Sterile blade sessile to short-stalked,
stalk less than ¼ length of blade; spore sacs never present on basal
pinnae of sterile blade |
B. hesperium |
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