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Botrychium lunaria

(L.) Sw.

Common Moonwort

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G5SecureGlobal Rank

Identity

Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.147162

Element CodePPOPH01080

Record TypeSPECIES

ClassificationSpecies

Classification StatusStandard

Name CategoryVascular Plant

Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

KingdomPlantae

PhylumFilicinophyta

ClassOphioglossopsida

OrderOphioglossales

FamilyOphioglossaceae

GenusBotrychium

Other Common Names

Botryche lunaire (FR) common moonwort (EN)

Concept Reference

Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.

Taxonomic Comments

This record is for a broad treatment of Botrychium lunaria that includes B. onondagense, as recognized in Kartesz (1994, 1999), and precedes the description of the distinct species B. neolunaria (described by Stensvold and Farrar (2016)). According to Gilman et al. (2024), Botrychium lunaria, even in even in a restricted sense that excludes B. neolunaria, does not occur in North America (except in Greenland) and the appropriate name for the remaining continental North American element of the Botrychium lunaria complex is Botrychium onondagense.

Conservation Status

Rank MethodExpertise without calculation

Review Date2015-09-09

Change Date1984-01-19

Edition Date1995-05-02

Edition AuthorsK. Crowley, MRO

Range Extent>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

Number of Occurrences81 to >300

Rank Reasons

Although Botrychium lunaria can be locally rare, it is common across a very broad geographic range.

Range Extent Comments

Botrychium lunaria appears in North and South America, Eurasia, Australia, and New Zealand. In North America it occurs from Newfoundland and Labrador west to Alaska, and south to Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Saskatchewan, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

Threat Impact Comments

The primary threat to Botrychium lunaria is the loss of its open habitats to successional overgrowth.

Ecology & Habitat

Description

Moonwort is a very small, perennial fern with a single aboveground frond. The dark-green frond is usually about 4 inches long and can be seen through mid-summer. It is divided into two leaves above a common stalk. The sterile leaf is usually dark green, thick, and fleshy. It has up to 9 usually overlapping pairs of broadly fan-shaped leaflets (pinnae). The top edges are rounded and smooth or wavy or rarely have teeth. The fertile leaf is longer than the sterile leaf with branches that bear grape-like sporangia. Spores germinate underground and develop into tiny, non-photosynthetic gametophytes which depend on an fungus for nourishment.

Diagnostic Characteristics

From CNHP Wetland Guide 2012: Main Characteristics:
Trophophore broadly deltate, usually subsessile
Pinnae linear
Sporophore divided near base into 2 or more major axes

Habitat

Botrychium lunaria generally occurs on calcareous soils in the sunlight of open fields, wood edges, and occasionally forests in the southern parts of its range. It may also occur on rocky banks or gravelly ledges.

Terrestrial Habitats

Forest/WoodlandGrassland/herbaceousOld fieldBare rock/talus/scree

Other Nations (2)

United StatesNNR

Province	Rank	Native
Wisconsin	S1	Yes
Wyoming	SNR	Yes
Oregon	S2	Yes
Pennsylvania	SNR	Yes
Minnesota	SNR	Yes
Washington	S3	Yes
Nevada	S1	Yes
Michigan	SNR	Yes
Montana	S4	Yes
Massachusetts	SNR	Yes
South Dakota	S1	Yes
Alaska	SNR	Yes
Maine	S1	Yes
North Dakota	SNR	Yes
Arizona	S1	Yes
New York	SNR	Yes
New Mexico	SNR	Yes
Utah	S2	Yes
Idaho	S1	Yes
California	SNR	Yes

CanadaN5

Province	Rank	Native
Nova Scotia	S1	Yes
Ontario	SU	Yes
Saskatchewan	S4	Yes
Nunavut	S4	Yes
Alberta	SU	Yes
Quebec	SNR	Yes
Island of Newfoundland	S4	Yes
Labrador	S3	Yes
New Brunswick	S1	Yes
Yukon Territory	S5	Yes
Northwest Territories	S3	Yes
Manitoba	S3	Yes

Plant Characteristics

DurationPERENNIAL

Economic Value (Genus)No

Roadless Areas (5)

Alaska (2)

Area	Forest	Acres
Brabazon Addition	Tongass National Forest	498,819
Chichagof	Tongass National Forest	555,858

Michigan (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Fibre	Hiawatha National Forest	7,432

Wyoming (2)

Area	Forest	Acres
Devils Canyon	Bighorn National Forest	37,416
Little Bighorn	Bighorn National Forest	133,949

References (6)

Farrar, Dr. Donald. Dept. of Botany, Iowa State University, Ames, IA. Pers. comm. of April 27, 1995, with Kathy Crowley, MRO.
Flora of North America Editorial Committee (FNA). 1993a. Flora of North America north of Mexico. Vol. 2. Pteridophytes and gymnosperms. Oxford Univ. Press, New York. xvi + 475 pp.
Gilman, A.V., D.R. Farrar, M.C. Stensvold. 2024. Botrychium onondagense (Ophioglossaceae), a resurrected species in the North American Botrychium lunaria complex. American Fern Journal 114(1): 57-65.
Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
Kartesz, J.T. 1999. A synonymized checklist and atlas with biological attributes for the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. First edition. In: Kartesz, J.T., and C.A. Meacham. Synthesis of the North American Flora, Version 1.0. North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Stensvold, M.C. and D.R. Farrar. 2016. Published online 13 December 2016. Genetic diversity in the worldwide Botrychium lunaria (Ophioglossaceae) complex, with new species and new combinations. Brittonia 69(2): 148-175.