Flora of North America species comparison

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Botrychium paradoxum

Botrychium subg. Botrychium

Paradox moonwort, peculiar moonwort, two-spike moonwort
Plants

less than 15 cm.
Roots

usually 10 or fewer, yellow or brown, 0.5–1.5mm diam. 1 cm from base.
Leaf

primordia glabrous.;

leaf sheath closed.
Sporophores

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

long- or short-stalked, arising from middle to distal portion of common stalk, well above ground level (low on common stalk, near ground level in some forms of B. simplex), always present, stalks and rachis only slightly flattened, not fleshy, 0.5–2 mm wide.
Common

stalk lacking idioblasts.
Trophophore(s)

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

short-stalked or nearly sessile (long-stalked in forms of B. simplex and B. pedunculosum) arising from the middle or high on common stalk (low in some individuals of B. montanum, B. mormo, and B. simplex), blade usually 1 per plant, appearing in spring and dying in summer or fall, absent during winter, mostly linear to oblong to oblong deltate (deltate in B. lanceolatum), lobed to 1–2(–3)-pinnate, mostly less than 2.5 cm wide when mature, herbaceous to leathery.
Pinna

lobes and segments, when present, asymmetric, either borne basiscopically or acroscopically.
x

=45.
2n

=180.

Botrychium paradoxum

Botrychium subg. Botrychium
Habitat Sporophores in June to August. Difficult to detect, plants usually hidden under other vegetation, in snowfields, secondary growth pastures
Elevation 1500–3000 m (4900–9800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
MT; UT; AB; BC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Worldwide
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.)

Trophophore blades of most species in Botrychium subg. Botrychium are divided into lobes or segments and are not truly pinnate except in those species with fan-shaped segments. Very rarely, blades are more than 1-pinnate (western form of B. simplex).

Species ca. 25 (21 in the flora).

(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
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
Subordinate taxa
Name authority W. H. Wagner: Amer. Fern J. 71: 24. (1981) Swartz
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).



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