Botrychium. \ 
FERNS. 
6j 
BOTRYCHIUM LUNARIA. 
COMMON MOON-WORT. 
(Plate 7, fig. 2.) 
Cha. — F rond pinnate, solitary. Lobes flabelliform, crenate. 
Syn. — Botrychium lunaria, Swz., Willd., Hook., Mack., Smith in E. FI., 
Gray. — Osmunda lunaria, Linn., Smith in FI. Br. and E. B., Bolt., Lain., 
Dicks., Ehrh. — Osmunda lunata, Salisb. — Lunaria minor, Ger . , Ray, 
Matth., Camer., Fuchs., Gesner, 8fc. 
Fig. — E. B. 318. — Bolt. 4. — Flo. Dan. 18, f. 1. — Flo. Lon. 66. — Newm., p. 
100. 
Des. — R oot of thick, smooth, yellow fibres. Frond of a dull, 
yellowish green, 2 to 6 inches high, rarelv more than one from a 
root, quite smooth in every part. Stem hollow, rather succulent, 
half way up it divides into two branches, one being a pinnatifid or 
pinnate frond, the other the fruit. Pinnules of the leafy part five 
or six pair, opposite, decurrent, fan-shaped, regularly crenate. 
Fruit covering the upper paid of the other branch of the stem in a 
compound spike, not in aggregate clusters, as in Osmunda, but 
separate, though nearly touching each other, and arranged in single 
lines along the branches of the spike. The thecae are opaque, 
sessile, round, smooth, yellow at first, afterwards brown. Spores 
oval, smooth, generally attached to each other in pairs. 
Vir. — I ts virtues are more imaginary than real, more magical than physical. 
Its name Lunaria, or Moon-wort, is taken from the shape of the leaves, and 
gathered by the light of the moon, was said to “ doo wonders.” Gerard men- 
tions a remarkable instance of the properties attributed to it by the alchemists 
and witches, “ that it will loose locks, and make them fall from the feet of 
horses that do grase where it doth grow ; ” “ too drowsie a dream” for even the 
credulous Gerard to believe ; but he adds, that it is “ singular for wounds.” 
Sit. — In pastures chiefly in the northern and mountainous countries. 
Hab. — Sco. : Bernerside Hill, W. of Berwickshire, Mr. W. Baird. South 
side of Loch Tay, and ascending to 3000 feet on adjacent mountains ; Clova and 
Pentland Hills, &c. Mr. H. C. Watson. Blair Athol, Perthshire, Mr. W. Brand. 
Moray, Rev. G. Gordon. Orkney, Rev. C. Clouston. Aberdeenshire, Dr. 
Murray. — Eng. : Sea banks near Tynemouth, Northumberland, Miss Hancock. 
Higher Tees, Mr. J. Hogg. Newcastle Town Moor, Mr. R. Bowman. Common 
about Settle, Yorkshire, Mr. J. Tatham. Warwickshire, Rev. W. Bree. South- 
port, Lancashire, Mr. Ry lands. Greenfield, near Manchester, Mr. J. Merrick. 
Cheshire and Derbyshire, Mr. W. Wilson. Pottery Car, Mr. S. Appleby. 
Clifton, Norton, Fiskerton, Newstead, and Sherwood Forest, Notts, Mr. T. H. 
Cooper. Shotover Hill, Oxen, Mr. Baxter. Linton, Cambridgeshire, Mr. C. 
C. Babington. Near Titchborne, Hants (1836), Mr. Forder. Leith Hill, Surrey; 
Shirley Common, near Croydon, Surrey ; between Dartford and Foot’s Cray, 
Kent ; and S. W. of Petersfield, Hants, Mr. W. Pamplin. Deep Dean, near 
Dorking, Mr. J. Nash. South Kent, Rev. G. E. Smith. Near Barnstaple, 
Devon (1836). — Wal. : Near Wrexham, Mr. J. E. Bowman. Near Rodney’s 
Pillar, Montgomeryshire, Rev. A. Bloxam. Craig Breidden, Mr. Dovaston. 
Geo. — T hroughout North Europe and North Asia. 
K 
