BOTRYCHIUM. 97 



fronds, or rather two branches of its frond, the one of which 

 is leafy, the other seedy ; and secondly, the pinnae of the 

 leafy branch are crescent- shaped, with the outer margin 

 jagged. There is no other native plant which has these 

 peculiar features, and hence the Moonwort is a plant very 

 easily recognized when it is met with. It is rather local in 

 its range, but not scarce in the localities where it is found, 

 which are open heaths and pastures, rather dry than 

 otherwise. The spore-cases are collected into branched 

 clusters at the end of the fertile branch ; the little branches 

 of the cluster are all turned one way, and the spore-cases 

 themselves are numerous and globular, and somewhat re- 

 semble in the aggregate a miniature erect bunch of grapes. 



There is a peculiarity in this Pern which also serves to 

 distinguish it, and its near ally the Opkioglossum, or Ad- 

 der's-tongue, from all other native species the venation 

 is straight, not circinate; that is, the fronds, before they 

 are developed, are not rolled up spirally, unrolling as they 

 expand, but in the incipient state the parts are merely 

 folded together by a flat surface. Only one species of 

 Botrychium is indigenous. 



BOTRYCHIUM LUNARIA, Swartz. The Moonwort. (Plate 

 XVIII. fig. 2.) 



H 



