Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Botrychium paradoxum

Botrychium gallicomontanum

Paradox moonwort, peculiar moonwort, two-spike moonwort

Frenchman's bluff grapefern, Frenchman's bluff moonwort
Pinnae

to 6 pairs, strongly ascending, well separated, distance between the 1st and 2d pinnae considerably greater than between 2d and 3d pairs, basal pinna pair approximately equal in size and cutting to adjacent pair, fan-shaped to narrowly spatulate, often asymmetric, with distal portion longer than and arching over proximal portion, undivided to tip, rarely 2-cleft, margins entire to irregularly cleft, apex rounded, venation like ribs of fan, midrib absent.
Sporophores

double, 2 per leaf, 1-pinnate, 0.5–4 cm.

2–3-pinnate, 1.5–3 times length of trophophore.
Trophophore(s)

converted entirely to second fertile segment, stalk 1/2 length of fertile segment.

stalk 1–8 mm;

blade yellow-green, ovate to oblong-linear, 1-pinnate, to 3 × 0.9 cm, firm, glaucescent.
2n

=180.

Botrychium paradoxum

Botrychium gallicomontanum
Phenology Leaves appearing in midspring, dying in summer.
Habitat Sporophores in June to August. Difficult to detect, plants usually hidden under other vegetation, in snowfields, secondary growth pastures Prairies
Elevation 1500–3000 m (4900–9800 ft) 300 m (1000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
MT; UT; AB; BC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
MN
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The leaf structure of Botrychium paradoxum is uniform and unique. Very rare teratological individuals of other moonwort species may have trophophores partially or wholly transformed into sporophores.

Botrychium × watertonense W.H. Wagner, known only from one locality in western Alberta, is the sterile hybrid of B. hesperium and B. paradoxum. It can be identified by its trophophore pinnae; all are bordered with sporangia. It may reproduce by some unknown mechanism, such as unreduced spores (W.H. Wagner Jr., F. S. Wagner, et al. 1984).

Of conservation concern.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Botrychium gallicomontanum is known only from one locality in western Minnesota, where it grows with both B. campestre and B. simplex. It is intermediate between them in the spacing, shape, and stalk length of the pinnae. This is one of four moonwort species that commonly produce dense clusters of minute, spheric gemmae at the root bases. This moonwort is probably an allopolyploid of the two associated species.

Of conservation concern.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Ophioglossaceae > Botrychium > subg. Botrychium Ophioglossaceae > Botrychium > subg. Botrychium
Sibling taxa
B. acuminatum, B. ascendens, B. biternatum, B. boreale, B. campestre, B. crenulatum, B. dissectum, B. echo, B. gallicomontanum, B. hesperium, B. jenmanii, B. lanceolatum, B. lunaria, B. lunarioides, B. matricariifolium, B. minganense, B. montanum, B. mormo, B. multifidum, B. oneidense, B. pallidum, B. pedunculosum, B. pinnatum, B. pseudopinnatum, B. pumicola, B. rugulosum, B. simplex, B. spathulatum, B. virginianum
B. acuminatum, B. ascendens, B. biternatum, B. boreale, B. campestre, B. crenulatum, B. dissectum, B. echo, B. hesperium, B. jenmanii, B. lanceolatum, B. lunaria, B. lunarioides, B. matricariifolium, B. minganense, B. montanum, B. mormo, B. multifidum, B. oneidense, B. pallidum, B. paradoxum, B. pedunculosum, B. pinnatum, B. pseudopinnatum, B. pumicola, B. rugulosum, B. simplex, B. spathulatum, B. virginianum
Name authority W. H. Wagner: Amer. Fern J. 71: 24. (1981) Farrar & Johnson Groh: Amer. Fern J. 81: 1, figs. 1, 2, 4. (1991)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers