Species: Botrychium lineare

Narrowleaf Grapefern
Species
Plants

Linearleaf Moonwort is a small, perennial fern with a single pale green, above-ground frond which stands 6-18 cm tall. The frond is divided into two segments, one sterile, one fertile, which share a common stalk. The sterile segment is once-pinnate (with segments, or pinnae borne on each side of a elongated central axis) with 4-6 widely spaced pairs of pinnae which are linear shaped or sometimes bifid with linear lobes. The fertile segment is 1-2 times as long as the sterile segment and has a single major axis with short branches which bear grape-like sporangia which contain thousands of spores. Spores germinate underground and develop into minute, subterranean, non-photosynthetic gametophytes.

Source: Encyclopedia of Life

Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Filicinophyta
Class

Ophioglossopsida

Order

Ophioglossales

Family

Ophioglossaceae

Genus

Botrychium

Natureserve Explorer
Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.155424
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Slender moonwort - botryche linéaire - narrowleaf grapefern
Informal Taxonomy
Plants, Vascular - Ferns and relatives
Formal Taxonomy
Plantae - Filicinophyta - Ophioglossopsida - Ophioglossales - Ophioglossaceae - Botrychium

Linearleaf Moonwort is a small, perennial fern with a single pale green, above-ground frond which stands 6-18 cm tall. The frond is divided into two segments, one sterile, one fertile, which share a common stalk. The sterile segment is once-pinnate (with segments, or pinnae borne on each side of a elongated central axis) with 4-6 widely spaced pairs of pinnae which are linear shaped or sometimes bifid with linear lobes. The fertile segment is 1-2 times as long as the sterile segment and has a single major axis with short branches which bear grape-like sporangia which contain thousands of spores. Spores germinate underground and develop into minute, subterranean, non-photosynthetic gametophytes.

Source: Encyclopedia of Life

Short General Description
A perennial fern that produces a pale green leaf (the trophophore), about 6-18 cm long including the stalk, and a larger, erect spore-bearing structure (the sporophore) with a single major axis. Both arise from a common, erect, subterranean stem and can be thought of as a single, highly modified fern frond. Spores mature mainly in late June and July.
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G2?
Global Status Last Reviewed
2007-09-12
Global Status Last Changed
2007-09-12
Other Status

(USFWS 2007).

Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S1&CA.BC=S1&CA.NB=SH&CA.QC=S1&CA.YT=S1&US.AK=S1&US.CA=S1&US.CO=S1&US.ID=SH&US.MN=SNR&US.MT=S1&US.NV=SNR&US.OR=S1&US.SD=S1&US.UT=S1&US.WA=S1&US.WY=S1" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
Widely spread but very spotty distribution, primarily in the mountains of western North America. It has apparently not been confirmed extant in eastern North America since 1947, when it was last collected in Quebec (also historically known from New Brunswick) (Farrar 2006). A site in Minnesota has recently (2005) been documented as well as a site in western Quebec (Farrar 2011). Believed extant in Alaska, Yukon Territory, British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Montana, California, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Colorado; likely extant in Utah; possibly found in Nevada; historical in Idaho. Farrar (2006) believes that there may be "additional occurrences throughout the mountains of western Canada where it has not heretofore been sought" and that "recent documentation in SD and WY along with other eastern species supports possible continued existence of the species in other eastern sites." These same comments were supported in Farrar (2011), and overall that undetected populations probably exist in these places.
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.155424