Common Moonwort

Description

Botrychium lunaria is a species of fern in the family Ophioglossaceaeknown by the common name moonwor or common moonwort.It is the most widely distributed moonwort,growing throughout the Northern Hemisphere across Eurasia and from Alaska to Greenland,as well as parts of the Southern Hemisphere including South America and Australia.This is a small plant growing from an underground caudex and sending one fleshy,dark green leaf above the surface of the ground.The leaf is 6 to 10 centimeters tall and is divided into a sterile and a fertile part.The sterile part of the leaf has 4 to 9 pairs of fan-shaped leaflets.The fertile part of the leaf is very different in shape,with rounded,grapelike clusters of sporangia by which it reproduces.It dies down at the end of summer;it frequently lies dormant for several seasons before re-appearing.