OregonFlora: Botrychium ascendens vs. Botrychium pinnatum

	Botrychium ascendens	Botrychium pinnatum
	upswept moonwort	northwestern moonwort
Habit	Plants 5–12(20) cm tall above ground.	Plants 3–15 cm tall above ground.
Spores	(40)44–47(54) μm.	36– 45 μm.
Common stalks	well developed; greater than 2 cm, green.	well developed; greater than 2 cm except in very small plants, sometimes with a reddish brown stripe below trophophore.
Trophophores	sessile or short-stalked; the stalk occasionally to 2 cm long; blade 1-pinnate, narrowly oblong-triangular; to 6 × 2 cm, yellow-green and shiny in life; pinnae to 6 pairs, strongly ascending, narrowly fan-shaped, spanning an arc of less than 90°; broadest at the outer margin, usually coarsely toothed and with 2–5 lobes; lower pinnae often bearing marginal sporangia.	sessile or rarely with stalk to 2 mm long; blade pinnate-pinnatifid, oblong to subdeltate; to 8 × 5 cm; grass-green and lustrous, not glaucous; pinnae spreading or slightly ascending, approximate to overlapping; ovate to lanceolate-oblong; broadest at or below the middle, symmetrically lobed; pinnae lobes with rounded to broadly acute apices; sporangia rarely present on pinnae margins.
Sporophores	stiffly erect; stalk 0.5–1 times as long as the trophophore at spore release, rarely longer; branches mostly simple, strongly ascending.	erect, usually pinnately branched; stalk 0.5–1 times as long as the trophophore at spore release.
2n	=180 (allotetraploid, apparently derived from B. crenulatum and B. lineare).	=180 (allotetraploid, derived from B. lanceolatum and B. lunaria).

	Botrychium ascendens	Botrychium pinnatum
Distribution	[WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	[WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	Open, well-drained areas and historically disturbed sites with a sparse to dense cover of grasses, forbs, and small shrubs or conifer saplings, such as montane or subalpine meadows, avalanche meadows, road shoulders, ski areas, and mining disturbances. 1500–2000 m. BW. CA, ID, NV, WA; scattered in western and northeastern North America. Native. Botrychium ascendens is easily confused with B. crenulatum, B. lineare, and B. minganense.	Moist meadows, forest openings, along small streams under shrubs or conifers, gravel road shoulders, and old clearcuts, at upper montane to subalpine elevations. 1400–3000 m. BR, BW. CA, ID, NV, WA; north to AK, southeast to AZ and NM. Native. All reports of Botrychium boreale from North America outside of Greenland are B. pinnatum.
Source	Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 89 Ben Legler	Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 92 Ben Legler
Sibling taxa	B. crenulatum, B. hesperium, B. lanceolatum, B. lineare, B. lunaria, B. minganense, B. montanum, B. paradoxum, B. pedunculosum, B. pinnatum, B. pumicola, B. simplex	B. ascendens, B. crenulatum, B. hesperium, B. lanceolatum, B. lineare, B. lunaria, B. minganense, B. montanum, B. paradoxum, B. pedunculosum, B. pumicola, B. simplex
Synonyms		Botrychium boreale, Botrychium boreale var. obtusilobum
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Botrychium pinnatum

upswept moonwort

northwestern moonwort

Habit

Plants 5–12(20) cm tall above ground.

Plants 3–15 cm tall above ground.

Spores

(40)44–47(54) μm.

36– 45 μm.

Common stalks

well developed; greater than 2 cm, green.

well developed; greater than 2 cm except in very small plants, sometimes with a reddish brown stripe below trophophore.

Trophophores

sessile or short-stalked; the stalk occasionally to 2 cm long;

blade 1-pinnate, narrowly oblong-triangular; to 6 × 2 cm, yellow-green and shiny in life;

pinnae to 6 pairs, strongly ascending, narrowly fan-shaped, spanning an arc of less than 90°; broadest at the outer margin, usually coarsely toothed and with 2–5 lobes; lower pinnae often bearing marginal sporangia.

sessile or rarely with stalk to 2 mm long;

blade pinnate-pinnatifid, oblong to subdeltate; to 8 × 5 cm; grass-green and lustrous, not glaucous;

pinnae spreading or slightly ascending, approximate to overlapping; ovate to lanceolate-oblong; broadest at or below the middle, symmetrically lobed;

pinnae lobes with rounded to broadly acute apices;

sporangia rarely present on pinnae margins.

Sporophores

stiffly erect;

stalk 0.5–1 times as long as the trophophore at spore release, rarely longer;

branches mostly simple, strongly ascending.

erect, usually pinnately branched;

stalk 0.5–1 times as long as the trophophore at spore release.

=180 (allotetraploid, apparently derived from B. crenulatum and B. lineare).

=180 (allotetraploid, derived from B. lanceolatum and B. lunaria).

Botrychium ascendens

Botrychium pinnatum

Distribution

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Open, well-drained areas and historically disturbed sites with a sparse to dense cover of grasses, forbs, and small shrubs or conifer saplings, such as montane or subalpine meadows, avalanche meadows, road shoulders, ski areas, and mining disturbances. 1500–2000 m. BW. CA, ID, NV, WA; scattered in western and northeastern North America. Native.

Botrychium ascendens is easily confused with B. crenulatum, B. lineare, and B. minganense.

Moist meadows, forest openings, along small streams under shrubs or conifers, gravel road shoulders, and old clearcuts, at upper montane to subalpine elevations. 1400–3000 m. BR, BW. CA, ID, NV, WA; north to AK, southeast to AZ and NM. Native.

All reports of Botrychium boreale from North America outside of Greenland are B. pinnatum.

Source

Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 89
Ben Legler

Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 92
Ben Legler

Sibling taxa