Bolrichium .] 
FERNS. 
53 
BOTRYCHIUM, Linn. MOON- WORT. 
(From fiolfo;, a bunch, as its fruit is borne in clusters.) 
PLATE OF GENERA, FIG. XV. 
The fruit in this somewhat extensive genus is produced upon a compound spike 
distinct from the leafy expansion, though attached to it at the stem. The theca 
at e opaque and, sessile. There is only one British species. 
BOTRYCHIUM LUNARIA. 
COMMON MOON-WORT. 
(Plate 4, fig. 8.) 
Cha. — Frond 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., Lam., 
Dicks., Elirh. — Osmunda lunata, Salisb . — Lunaria minor, Ger., Ray, 
Matth., Gamer., Fuchs., Gesner, &jc. 
Fig. — E. B. 318 .—Bolt. 4.— Flo. Dan. 18, /. 1.— Flo. Lon. 66. 
Des. — Root of thick, smooth, yellow fibres. Frond of a dull, 
yellowish green, 2 to 6 inches high, rarely 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, to each, decurrent, fan-shaped, regularly cre- 
nate. Fruit covering the upper part 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. 
V in. — Its 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 if 
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. 
Had. — Eng.: Clifton, Norton, Fiskerton, Newstead, and Sherwood Forest, 
Notts, Mr. T. H. Cooper. Warwickshire, Rev. W. Bree. Pottery Car, Mr. 
S. Appleby. Shotover Hill, Oxon, Mr. Baxter. Deep Dean, near Dorking, 
Mr. J. Beevis. Shirley Common, near Croydon, Surrey ; between Dartford 
and Foot’s Cray, Kent; and S. W. of Pctersficld, Hants, Mr. W. Pamplin. 
Leith Hill, Surrey. Newcastle Town Moor, Mr. R. Bowman. Southport, 
Lancashire, Mr. Rylands. Cheshire and Derbyshire, Mr. W. Wilson. Green- 
field, near Manchester, Mr. J. Merrick. Near Barnstaple, Devon (1836), 
