Botrychium .] 
FERNS. 
65 
BOTRYCHIUM LUNARIA. 
COMMON MOONWORT. 
(Plate VII, fig. 2.) 
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., 
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. — 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 pairs, opposite, decurrent, fan-shaped, regularly crenate. 
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 thecse 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 Moonwort, is taken from the shape of the leaves, and 
gathered by the light of the moon, was said to “ doo wonders.” Gerard mentions 
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. — Scot. : Bernerside Hill, W. of Berwickshire, Mr. TV. 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 Llancock. Higher 
Tees, Mr. J. Hogg. Newcastle Town Moor, Mr. R. Bowman. Common about 
Settle, Yorkshire, Mr. J. Tatham. Warwickshire, Rev. TV. Bree. Southport, 
Lancashire, Mr. Rylands. Greenfield, near Manchester, Mr. J. Merrick. Cheshire 
and Derbyshire, Mr. TV. Wilson. Pottery Car, Mr. S. Appleby. Clifton, Norton, 
Fiskerton,’ Newstead, and Sherwood Forest, Notts, Mr. T. H. Cooper. Shotover 
Hill, Oxon, 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 Footscray, Kent; and S. W. 
of Petersfield, Hants, Mr. TV. Pamplin. Deepdene, near Dorking, Mr. J. Nash. 
South Kent, Rev. G. E. Smith. Near Barnstaple, Devon (1836). — Wales: Near 
Wrexham, Mr. J. E. Bowman. Near Rodney’s Pillar, Montgomeryshire, Rev. A. 
Bloxam. Craig Breidden, Mr. Dovaston. 
Geo.— Throughout North Europe and North Asia. 
