Botrychium

True Moonwort ( Botrychium lunaria )

The diamond ferns ( Botrychium ), often also called moon diamonds, are a genus of the family of adder's tongue plants ( Ophioglossaceae ).

Features

The diamond ferns are perennial plants. They have a weak secondary growth, which distinguishes them from all other extant ferns.

The roots are sometimes branched laterally. They are yellowish to black, have a diameter of 0.5 to 2 millimeters and are smooth or rough of Korkwarzen.

Its leaves are divided into a sterile and a fertile part. The sterile section is flat, pinnate or two to four times pinnate. He rarely has three parts. It is usually somewhat fleshy. The veins branch dichotomously and end dates.

The fertile part of the leaf forms a rispigen Sporangienstand, standing at the two rows of almost sessile, free sporangia. The spores are similar ( isospor ).

The prothallus grows underground and has a bulbous shape. It lives as a saprophyte of mycorrhizal fungi.

The basic chromosome number is x = 44, 45 or 92

Dissemination

The diamond ferns are almost worldwide spread ( subkosmopolitisch ). The greatest variety in them in high latitudes and at high altitude. 30 of the approximately 50 to 60 species are native to North America. They grow mainly in lean, premolars meadows and sparse forests.

System

The genus of ferns diamond is sometimes split into several genera, so then next Botrychium in the narrower sense are the genera Sceptridium, Botrypus and Japanobotrychium. Smith et al. left in their fern classification, the genus on a larger scale.

Most species have a wide variation in their characteristics. The species numbers are specified in different ways: from 45 to 55 in the Excursion Flora of Austria, 50 to 60 in the Flora of North America.

In Central Europe the following species are native, which are often endangered and regionally partially extinct:

• Lanzettlicher Rautenfarn ( Botrychium lanceolatum ): Switzerland, Tyrol, Carinthia.
• True Moonwort ( Botrychium lunaria (L.) Sw. )
• Branched Rautenfarn ( Botrychium matricariifolium ( Doell ) A. Braun ex WDJ Koch)
• Multipartite Rautenfarn ( Botrychium multifidum (SG Gmel. ) Rupr. )
• Easy Rautenfarn, Simple Moonwort ( Botrychium simplex E. Hitchc. )
• Virginian Rautenfarn, Live Moonwort ( Botrychium virginianum (L.) Sw. )

The diamond fossil ferns are not known.

Etymology

The genus name is derived from the Greek Botrychium botrys = grape and refers to the shape of the Sporangienstandes similar to the paniculate inflorescence of grapes. The German trivial name indicates the belief that there is a relationship between the leaf mold especially the rights Moonwort and the moon phases, the second part refers to the roughly diamond-shaped outline of the leaflets.

Documents

• Siegmund Seybold (ed.): Schmeil - Fitschen interactive. CD -ROM, Version 1.1, Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2002, ISBN 3-494-01327-6.
• Warren H. Wagner Jr., Florence S. Wagner: Botrychium. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee ( eds.): Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 2: . Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms, Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford et al 1993, ISBN 0-19-508242-7, pp. 86-101 ( limited preview on Google Book Search ), online ( English).