Botrychium ascendens
Botrychium dissectum
trianglelobe moonwort, upswept moonwort
botryche découpé, cutleaf grapefern, dissected grapefern
to 5 pairs, strongly ascending, well separated, distance between 1st and 2d pinnae not or slightly more than between 2d and 3d pairs, basal pinna pair approximately equal in size and cutting to adjacent pair, obliquely narrowly cuneate, undivided to tip, margins sharply denticulate and often shallowly incised, apex rounded, venation like ribs of fan, midrib absent.
to 10 pairs, approximate to remote, slightly ascending, distance between 1st and 2d pinnae not or slightly more than between 2d and 3d pairs, undivided except in proximal 2/3–3/4.
stalk 3–10 mm, 1/6 length of trophophore rachis;
blade yellow-green, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 1-pinnate, to 6 × 1.5 cm, thin but firm.
stalk 3–15 cm, 1.5–2.5 times length of trophophore rachis;
blade shiny green, often bronze in winter, plane to convex, 3–4-pinnate, to 20 × 30cm, leathery.
2-pinnate at base of sporangial cluster, 1.3–2 times length of trophophore.
2–3-pinnate, 1.5–2.5 times length of trophophore.
usually obliquely angular–trowel-shaped to widely trowel-shaped to obliquely round-lanceolate to ovate and pointed, margins denticulate to lacerate to coarsely cut halfway or wholly into linear-divergent segments in some populations, venation pinnate.
=180.
=90.
Botrychium ascendens
Botrychium dissectum
Botrychium ascendens is a distinctive little moonwort that grows with B. crenulatum, B. lunaria, and B. minganense. This species and B. pedunculosum are the only grapeferns that often have extra sporangia on the proximal pinnae.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Botrychium dissectum is highly variable, even within the same population. In Florida and along the Gulf Coast, the extremely lacerate form is absent, and the blade segments are usually strongly angular, trowel-shaped, and dentate. In eastern Kentucky and central Tennessee in forested valleys, on shale and limestone soils, plants have narrowly linear, somewhat blunt-tipped segments with a more or less whitish gray central line above the veins. This variant, which grows with B. dissectum, may deserve recognition as a distinct species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- 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
Go Botany
IL Wildflowers
KS Wildflowers
LA Plants
MD Biodiversity
MI Flora
MO Plants
