Botrychium hesperium
Botrychium dissectum
western moonwort
botryche découpé, cutleaf grapefern, dissected grapefern
to 6 pairs, ascending, usually approximate or overlapping except in shade forms, distance between 1st and 2d pinnae not or slightly more than between 2d and 3d pairs, basal pinna pair commonly much larger and more divided than adjacent pair, lobed to tip, basal pair oblong to oblong-lanceolate with lobed margins, remainder broadly spatulate with entire margins or 1 or more shallow lobes, apex rounded, venation pinnate.
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 0–3(–10) mm, to 1/4 length of trophophore rachis;
blade ± gray-green, dull, oblong-linear to deltate, 1–2-pinnate, to 6 × 5 cm, 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.
1–3 pinnate, 2–3 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 hesperium
Botrychium dissectum
In the Rocky Mountains Botrychium hesperium grows often with B. echo, and in the Lake Superior region, with B. acuminatum and B. matricariifolium.
(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.)
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