Moonwort | |
---|---|
Botrychium lunaria | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Division: | Polypodiophyta |
Class: | Polypodiopsida |
Order: | Ophioglossales |
Family: | Ophioglossaceae |
Subfamily: | Botrychioideae |
Genus: | Botrychium Sw. |
Type species | |
Botrychium lunaria (L.) Swartz | |
Species | |
Several, see text |
Botrychium is a genus of ferns, seedless vascular plants in the family Ophioglossaceae. [1] Botrychium species are known as moonworts. They are small, with fleshy roots, and reproduce by spores shed into the air. One part of the leaf, the trophophore, is sterile and fernlike; the other, the sporophore, is fertile and carries the clusters of sporangia or spore cases. Some species only occasionally emerge above ground and gain most of their nourishment from an association with mycorrhizal fungi.
The circumscription of Botrychium is disputed between different authors; some botanists include the genera Botrypus and Sceptridium within Botrychium, while others treat them as distinct. The latter treatment is provisionally followed here.
Phylogeny of Botrychium [2] [3]
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Unassigned species:
Moonworts can be found in many environments, including prairies, forests, and mountains. While some Botrychium species are quite rare, conservation efforts can be difficult. Determining the rarity of a species is complicated by the plants’ small leaves, which stand only 2-10 centimeters above the soil. [32] Even more of a challenge in obtaining an accurate population count is the genus’s largely subterranean life cycle. The vast majority of any one population of moonworts actually exists below ground in banks consisting of several types of propagules. One type of propagule is the ungerminated spores, which must percolate through the soil beyond the reach of light in order to germinate. This presumably increases the probability that the spore will be in range of a mycorrhizal symbiont before it produces the tiny, roughly heart-shaped gametophyte, which also exists entirely below ground. [46] Finally, some species produce gemmae, a form of asexual propagation achieved by budding of the root. [32]
Juvenile and dormant sporophytes can also be hidden in the soil for long periods of time. Mature sporophytes do not necessarily produce a leaf annually; they can remain viable underground for up to 10 years without putting up a photosynthetic component. This feat is made possible by their dependence on symbiotic partnership with AM fungi of the genus Glomus, which supply most fixed carbon for growth and reproduction. [47]
This mycorrhizal dependence has also made lab cultivation of moonworts difficult. Thus far, only germination of the gametophyte has been successful.
Sceptridium is a genus of seedless vascular plants in the family Ophioglossaceae, closely allied to the genus Botrychium. It is also closely related to the genus Botrypus. Sceptridium species are commonly called the grape-ferns.
Lycopodium clavatum is the most widespread species in the genus Lycopodium in the clubmoss family.
Physocarpus, commonly called ninebark, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rosaceae, native to North America and northeastern Asia.
Botrypus virginianus, synonym Botrychium virginianum, sometimes called rattlesnake fern is a species of perennial fern in the adders-tongue family. It is monotypic within the genus Botrypus, meaning that it is the only species within the genus. It is called the rattlesnake fern in some parts of North America, due to its habit of growing in places where rattlesnakes are also found. Rattlesnake fern prefers to grow in rich, moist woods in dense shade and will not tolerate direct sunlight.
Persicaria virginiana, also called jumpseed, Virginia knotweed or woodland knotweed is a North American species of smartweed within the buckwheat family. It is unusual as a shade-tolerant member of a mostly sun-loving genus. Jumpseed is a perennial, named for its seeds which can "jump" several feet when a ripe seedpod is disturbed.
Sceptridium multifidum is a fern species in the Ophioglossaceae, known by the common names leathery grapefern and leathery moonwort.
Ranunculus longirostris, the longbeak buttercup, is an aquatic plant in the buttercup family.
Botrychium lunaria is a species of fern in the family Ophioglossaceae known by the common name moonwort or common moonwort. It is the most widely distributed moonwort, growing throughout the Northern Hemisphere across Eurasia and from Alaska to Greenland, as well as temperate parts of the Southern Hemisphere.
Quercus chapmanii, commonly referred to as the Chapman oak, is a species of oak that grows in the southeastern United States.
Ribes hudsonianum is a North American species of currant, known by the common name northern black currant.
Botrychium paradoxum is a species of fern in the family Ophioglossaceae known by the common name peculiar moonwort. It is native to North America, where there are scattered occurrences in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Ribes americanum is a North American species of flowering plant in the gooseberry family known as wild black currant, American black currant, and eastern black currant. It is widespread in much of Canada and the northern United States.
Solidago ptarmicoides, the prairie goldenrod, white flat-top goldenrod or upland white aster, is a North American perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the central and eastern Canada and parts of the United States (mostly Great Lakes region, the Northeast, the Ozarks, and the northern Great Plains, with isolated populations in Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, and scattered locations in the Southeast. It has also been called upland white solidago, upland white goldenrod, and sneezewort goldenrod
Quercus intricata, common name dwarf oak, intricate oak or Coahuila scrub oak, is a plant species native to northern Mexico and western Texas.
Sagittaria cristata, the crested arrowhead, is a perennial herb growing up to 75 centimetres tall. The leaves are flat, long and narrow, not lobed, and up to 40 cm (16 in) long. The flowers are white.
Xyris elliottii, common name Elliott's yelloweyed grass, is a North American species of flowering plant in the yellow-eyed-grass family. It is native to the coastal plain of the United States from Mississippi to South Carolina plus southern Mexico (Tabasco), Central America and the West Indies.
Viola sagittata, commonly called the arrowleaf violet, is a species of flowering plant in the violet family (Violaceae). It is native to the eastern North America in Canada and the United States, where it is widespread. It is found in a variety of natural habitats, but is most common in dry, open communities such as prairies, glades, or woodlands, often in sandy or rocky soil.
Carex albolutescens, known as greenish-white sedge or greenwhite sedge is a species of sedge native primarily to the lower Midwest and Eastern United States. C. albolutescens grows in wetlands, with an affinity toward acidic soils in swamps and woodlands.
Carex bebbii, Bebb's sedge, is a species of sedge native to the northern United States and Canada. Carex bebbii grows in a variety of wetland habitats such as lakeshores, streambanks, ditches, meadows, swamps, and seeps. It forms dense tufts with culms up to 90 centimeters tall.