THE EXILED MOONWORTS. 



723 



up a large sod, where a few mature fronds are conspicu- 

 ous among the grass ; take care to have it broad enough 

 and deep enough so that not cue of the roots of the 

 moonwort is exposed, much less injured ; fit this sod in 

 a large pot ; place it in the open air, and be sure to add 

 compost or rich vegetable soil." 



Although the leafy portion of the frond of B. Vir- 

 giniamim resembles that of certain umbelliferous plants, 

 there is nothing unfern-like in its appearance. But 

 when we consider B. simplex, so petite &nA insignificant, 

 we can but commend the judgment which remedied the 

 atrocious blunder of ever calling it a fern at all. It is 



Mr. Newman suggests that the plant is parasitic, but 

 other writers do not concur with him. Its distribution 

 is extensive. Mr. Britton tells us that it is absent 

 from the American and Atlantic flora, yet it is recorded 

 from Newfoundland and the northern United States. 



In old times the moonwort was accredited with mys- 

 terious and magical powers, and until recently it was 

 "considered singular to heal fresh wounds"; but its 

 virtues were never manifested unless the plant was col- 

 lected by moonlight. Parkinson, writing in 1640, says : 

 "It hath been formerly related by impostors and false 

 knaves, and is yet believed by many, that it will loosen 



recorded as a native of California, British North 

 America and the Northern United States ; it is also at 

 home in Europe soil. 



Botrychium Lunaria, the best known and only British 

 species of the genus, is the most interesting member of 

 the family. It is a short stout plant, not exceeding four 

 inches in height ; the smooth dark-green leafy portions 

 of the frond pinnate, the pinnae, which vary in number 

 from three to nine pairs, being crescent-shaped in outline. 

 This form probably suggested some connection between 

 the plant and the moon, whence the Latin name 

 "Lunaria" and the English "moonwort." 



locks, fetters and shoes from those horses' feete that goe 

 in the place where it groweth ; some alchemists also in 

 former times have wonderfull extolled it to condensate 

 or convert quick-silver into pure silver." The tradi- 

 tional power of the moonwort over iron is best described 

 in the words of Culpepper: "Moonwort is an herb 

 which they say will open locks and unshoo such horses 

 as tread upon it ; this some laugh to scorn and no smal 

 fools neither ; but country people that I know call it 

 ' Unshoo the Horse. ' " Coles also says: "It is said, 

 yea, and believed by many, that moonwort will open the 

 locks wherewith dwelling-houses are made fast, if it be 



