Lance-leaf Moonwort Botrychium lanceolatum Grapeferns family (Ophioglossaceae)
See Tidbits under the similar species, Echo Moonwort ( Botrychium echo). One must be very cautious in saying that any Botrychium is easy to identify, but perhaps that can be said of B. lanceolatum and the reason for this intellectual fling is most evident in the photographs. Note the very broadly triangular shape to all the green leafy part (the trophophore) of the plant. That shape sets this Botrychium apart from others that we find in the Colorado Rockies. The Botrychium was named by Olof Swartz in 1800; he replaced the original name of Osmunda given by Linnaeus in 1753. The name "Botrychium" is derived from the Greek word "botrypus," meaning "a cluster of grapes" and this refers to the cluster of -producing on the sporophore.
Fern-like plants to 6" tall, the common of the sporophore and trophophore normally about 2-5" tall. Trophophore or nearly so on main , blade dull to shiny green to dark green, broadly in outline, 2/5 to 2" tall, 2/5 to 3" wide at the base, the , divided, the lower conspicuously longer and larger than the upper ones. Sporophore up to 1 1/2 times the length of the trophophore with a 1/5" , 1/5" to 2" long. Reproduces from .
pinnate -- A compound leaf with two rows of leaflets.
pinnae -- the primary segments of a compound leaf.
spores are produced by ferns, horsetails, and other primitive plants.
Spores are like tiny seeds, but they lack food for the plant embryo.
Because spores are easily carried aloft by the wind, they allow ferns
and horsetails to reproduce asexually across considerable distances.
apex acute -- often refering to the end of a leaf in which the two side meet at an angle of less then 90 degrees.
Can refer to other flattened structures.
deltoid -- a triangular leaf shape. The stem attaches to the middle of a flat side.
sessile -- attached without a stalk. For example, a leaf that clasps the stalk. A petiolate leaf has a stalk.
sporangium is the enclosure in which spores are formed.
stalk -- The supporting structure of an organ. Examples of stalks are stem, peduncle, petiole, ...
genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant
number of similar characteristics.
