Ferns and Fern Allies 55 



LARGE MOONWORT 



Botrychium Lunaria. Adder's Tongue Family 



Very fleshy. Leaves: the sterile portion borne at, or above the 

 middle of the stem, pinnate, with two to eight pairs of lunate lobes, 

 crenate or entire, fertile portion dense ; bud for the following year en- 

 closed in the base of the stem. 



The Moonworts are extremely curious plants growing 

 from short, erect rootstocks, and clustered fleshy roots. 

 The name refers to the numerous half -moon-shaped lobes 

 which grow near the middle of the stem on the sterile por- 

 tion of the plant. Once upon a time, the Moonwort was 

 supposed to possess magic properties, and according to 

 Coles, an old writer on botany, would enable the fortunate 

 owner of the plant to *' open the locks wherewith dwelling- 

 houses are made fast, if it be put into the keyhole." Dray- 

 ton called it " Lunary," and thus refers to its wonder- 

 working power : 



"Then sprinkled she the juice of rue 

 With nine drops of the midnight dew 

 From Lunary distilling." 



Botrychium simplex, or Small Moonwort, is also called 

 Little Grape Fern, in allusion to its grape-like clusters of 

 spore cases. It is a graceful, variable plant, and has a single 

 lobe on the stem, the fertile portion being a spike with spore 

 cases in rows on either side of its branches. 



Botrychium virginianum, or Rattlesnake Fern, is a much 

 larger, and more robust plant, with a much-divided sterile 

 portion, like a fern leaf, its segments more or less toothed. 



Botrychium lanccolatum, or Slender Moonwort, has small 

 fronds, and the sterile segment, which is closely sessile at 

 the top of the long slender stalk, is triangular, ternately 



