| 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.
- ^ Christenhusz, Maarten J. M.; Zhang, Xian-Chun; Schneider, Harald (2011). "A linear sequence of extant families and genera of lycophytes and ferns" (PDF). Phytotaxa. 19: 7–54. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.19.1.2.