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 virginianum

Paradox moonwort, peculiar moonwort, two-spike moonwort

botryche de virginie, common grapefern, rattlesnake fern
Pinnae

to 12 pairs, usually approximate to overlapping, slightly ascending, distance between 1st and 2d pinnae not or slightly more than between 2d and 3d pairs, lanceolate, divided to tip.
Sporophores

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

2-pinnate, 0.5–1.5(–2) times length of trophophore.
Trophophore(s)

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

sessile;

blade pale green, 3–4-pinnate, to 25 × 33 cm, thin, herbaceous.
Pinnules

lanceolate and deeply lobed, lobes linear, serrate, apex pointed, venation pinnate, midrib present.
2n

=180.

=184.

Botrychium paradoxum

Botrychium virginianum
Phenology Leaves seasonal, appearing in early spring and dying in late summer.
Habitat Sporophores in June to August. Difficult to detect, plants usually hidden under other vegetation, in snowfields, secondary growth pastures Common to abundant, especially in shaded forests and shrubby second growth, rare or absent in arid regions
Elevation 1500–3000 m (4900–9800 ft) 0–1500 m (0–4900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
MT; UT; AB; BC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Mexico; Central America; South America in Brazil; Colombia; Ecuador; Peru; Eurasia
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 virginianum is the most widespread Botrychium in North America.

(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. Osmundopteris
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. 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. paradoxum, B. pedunculosum, B. pinnatum, B. pseudopinnatum, B. pumicola, B. rugulosum, B. simplex, B. spathulatum
Synonyms Osmunda virginiana
Name authority W. H. Wagner: Amer. Fern J. 71: 24. (1981) (Linnaeus) Swartz: J. Bot. (Schrader) 1800(2): 111. (1801)
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