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BOTEYCHIUM LUNARIA. 
[From Qbrpvs, botrys , a bunch, or cluster ; and lunaria 
from luna, the Moon, because the small leaves of the 
frond are lunate or half-moon shaped.] 
Syn. — Linnseus called it Osmunda lunaria. 
MOON-WORT. 
This is another of the flowering ferns, though the 
expression is as incorrect, botanically speaking, as 
when applied to the Osmunda Regalis. It is a 
diminutive plant, attaining a height of from three to 
ten inches only. The root consists of a few coarse 
fibres, issuing nearly at right-angles from the cen- 
tral upright stalk. The stem is hollow at the base. 
It is an extraordinary and interesting fact, that if the 
stem be examined at its lower part, the rudiments of 
a small plant will be discovered, which are destined 
to spring up the succeeding year ; and still more ex- 
traordinary, that if a further and closer examination 
be made, the traces of a still more minute plant will 
be found, destined to flourish on the third year. The 
stem, in ascending, divides in two, the seed-bearing 
part being erect, the leafy portion slanting away from 
it. The leafy frond is divided into a number of fan- 
like pinnae with uneven edges, the veins radiating 
from the point of attachment. The spike or spear 
is divided into branches, usually corresponding in 
number with the pinnae of the frond, and these are 
again divided. This plant, so unlike a fern, is 
nevertheless classed with the ferns, for the same 
reason that the Osmunda ftegalis is, namely, because 
it bears bunches of spore cases, and not true flowers, 
properly so called. These spore cases resemble those 
of other ferns, except that they are without the elas- 
tic rings, and, are borne on a stalk instead of on the 
back of the leaf. And whereas other ferns unroll 
themselves as they grow, this rather unfolds itself 
during the process of developement. 
Uses. — The ancients believed that a piece of this 
plant put into the key-hole, would cause the lock to 
open : and that if horses grazed where it grew, their 
