GENUS XVIIL 
BOTRYCHIUM, Stcartz. 
MOOXWOKT. 
GEN. CHAR. Fructification naked, clustered on a con- 
tracted branch of the frond, constituting a compound 
sporangiferous unilateral panicle. Spore-eastt large, se. 
sfle, globose, without reticulations, two-valved opening 
transversely. Fronds two-branched. Veint simple or 
forked, radiating; renultg direct free. 
The name is derived from the Greek, botrys a bunch 
of grapes ; the spore-cases being produced in branched 
clusters. 
1- Bo try chi urn Lunaria, Sic art:. Common 
Moonwort. Fronds solitary : barren branch pinnate : 
pinnae lunate or fan-shaped, jagged or crenate. 
BoTTCHim LrauLiA, SwarU : Sm. Enp. FL IT. 315: Book and 
Am. Fl. 578: Bab. Man. 417: Newm.337: Florigr. Brit. IT. 34: 
Franc. 65. OSMCNDA LFKAKIA, Liniuea*: Eng. Boc 1 118. 
The Common Moonwort is almost without a caudex. 
this part being reduced to a mere point at the base of the 
stipes, furnished with stout succulent brittle roots, issuing 
in irregular whorls from a thicker perpendicular one. The 
fronds are annual, growing up towards the end of April, 
and perishing in the coarse of the summer or the autumn ; 
the entire plant growing from three to ten inches high. 
