56 THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. 
times pinnate. The plant often shows a 
remarkable tendency to double the fertile 
spike, and specimens with three complete 
fertile panicles, each on a separate stalk, 
are not rare. 
The rootstock, as inall the Botrychiums, 
is short and sends out numerous fleshy 
roots. The base of the living stipe com- 
pletely encloses the buds for succeeding 
years. Frequently the buds for four 
years to come may be discerned. The 
rootstock is reported 
to occasionally bear 
two fronds as the ad- 
der’s-tongue does. 
Throughout most 
of the grape fern’s 
range, especially near 
the seaboard, there 
is an interesting va- 
riety whose principal 
difference is that the foliage is very finely 
dissected, the ultimate segments ending 
in slender Y-shaped divisions, that give it 
a very fine and lace-like appearance. This 
was formerly known as the variety d7s- 
sectum but some botanists now incline to 
give it specific rank. If this is a distinct 
species, its resemblance to 
BL. obliquum is truly re- 
markable. It affects the 
me > same habitats, fruits at 
R the same time and has the 
same trick of waiting until 
COMMON GRAPE FERN. Botrvchium obliquum. 
