Botrychium neolunaria

Botrychium neolunaria grows in poorly to moderately well drained open areas dominated by perennial, herbaceous vegetation. At the type locality in Colorado, Botrychium neolunaria grows in somewhat sparsely vegetated subalpine meadows supporting a mosaic of low herbs, lichens and some open, gravelly soil, often adjacent to boulders or outcrops. In other montane situations B. neolunaria grows on scree slopes as well as lush subalpine meadows. In Alaska, this moonwort often occupies areas of natural disturbance such as river bars, the vicinity of melting glaciers and well-drained areas near beaches. Habitats in the vicinity of beaches can range from bare sand on stabilized dunes, to lightly vegetated upper beaches to herbaceous upper beach meadows. In northeastern North America B. neolunaria grows in mesic meadows, sand dunes and beach meadows. Throughout its range B. neolunaria has also been documented in mid-successional meadow-like vegetation associated with recovery from human-caused disturbance. Human activities such as mowing and grazing may maintain this type of vegetation by preventing succession to woody vegetation that is less supportive of moonworts. By this process, old (>20 years) roadsides, landing strips, power lines, abandoned roads, etc. mimic natural meadows (Stensvold & Farrar 2016).