OregonFlora: Botrychium crenulatum vs. Botrychium pinnatum

	Botrychium crenulatum	Botrychium pinnatum
	crenulate moonwort, dainty moonwort	northwestern moonwort
Habit	Plants 6–10(16) cm tall above ground.	Plants 3–15 cm tall above ground.
Spores	45(40–48) μm.	36– 45 μm.
Common stalks	well developed; greater than 3 cm, green.	well developed; greater than 2 cm except in very small plants, sometimes with a reddish brown stripe below trophophore.
Trophophores	stalk (1)5(17) mm long; blade 1-pinnate; ovateoblong to linear-oblong; to 6.5 × 1.8 cm (averaging 2 cm long), yellow-green, usually with a thin, herbaceous texture; pinnae in (2)3(5) pairs, overlapping or not, spreading at nearly a right angle to rachis; fan-shaped, spanning an arc of 60–150(180)°; broadest at the outer margin, usually finely crenulate and sometimes with 1–5 incisions.	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	erect; stalk 0.5–2 times as long as the trophophore at spore release; branches well developed, usually spreading or twisted downwards.	erect, usually pinnately branched; stalk 0.5–1 times as long as the trophophore at spore release.
2n	=90.	=180 (allotetraploid, derived from B. lanceolatum and B. lunaria).

	Botrychium crenulatum	Botrychium pinnatum
Distribution	[WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	[WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	Moist to saturated soils in or near seeps, fens, or on the margins of small streams, usually among low, dense herbaceous cover, from mid-montane to subalpine elevations. 1200–2100 m. BR, BW. CA, ID, NV, WA; western North America. Native. Botrychium crenulatum grows in more saturated substrates than most other moonworts. It is frequently confused with B. minganense, from which it can usually be distinguished by the two to five pairs of fan-shaped, spreading pinnae with finely crenulate margins, thinner texture, and spreading or downwardpointing sporophore branches. However, many plants do not exhibit all of these characters.	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. ascendens, 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

crenulate moonwort, dainty moonwort

northwestern moonwort

Habit

Plants 6–10(16) cm tall above ground.

Plants 3–15 cm tall above ground.

Spores

45(40–48) μm.

36– 45 μm.

Common stalks

well developed; greater than 3 cm, green.

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

Trophophores

stalk (1)5(17) mm long;

blade 1-pinnate; ovateoblong to linear-oblong; to 6.5 × 1.8 cm (averaging 2 cm long), yellow-green, usually with a thin, herbaceous texture;

pinnae in (2)3(5) pairs, overlapping or not, spreading at nearly a right angle to rachis; fan-shaped, spanning an arc of 60–150(180)°; broadest at the outer margin, usually finely crenulate and sometimes with 1–5 incisions.

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

erect;

stalk 0.5–2 times as long as the trophophore at spore release;

branches well developed, usually spreading or twisted downwards.

erect, usually pinnately branched;

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

=90.

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

Botrychium crenulatum

Botrychium pinnatum

Distribution

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Moist to saturated soils in or near seeps, fens, or on the margins of small streams, usually among low, dense herbaceous cover, from mid-montane to subalpine elevations. 1200–2100 m. BR, BW. CA, ID, NV, WA; western North America. Native.

Botrychium crenulatum grows in more saturated substrates than most other moonworts. It is frequently confused with B. minganense, from which it can usually be distinguished by the two to five pairs of fan-shaped, spreading pinnae with finely crenulate margins, thinner texture, and spreading or downwardpointing sporophore branches. However, many plants do not exhibit all of these characters.

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