I® 'I
i ; “
4 ’
If rf !
E ngland . .
W a l e s ____
Sco tland. .
I r e l a n d . . ,
MOONWORT.
B o t k y c h iu m l u n a r ia .—Smith, Hooker.
Osmunda lunaria.—Linneus.
LOCALITIES.
. Northumberland; Cumberland, Giggleswick not uncommon, on heathy pastures
between Newby Cross and Daleton sparingly, Flirasby; Yorkshire, Fullwood,
near Sheffield very abundant, Settle, near Halifax; Lancashire, Greenfield, near
Manchester; Cheshire; Staffordshire, nearCheedle; Shropshire; Nottinghamshire,
near Papplewick; Worcestershire, in an old pasture on Oversley Hill,
about a mile from Alcester ; Somersetshire, near Bath, near Bristol, Kingsweston
H ill; Hampshire, at Harting Combe; Surrey, Coulsden Common, Reigate Park,
Shirley Common, near Croydon ; Sussex, Boxgrove Common, near Chichester, on
the ascent from Patcham, near Brighton, towards Hollingbury Castle; Kent, near
Hartford, Scadbury P a rk ; Cambridgeshire, near Linton.
. Caernarvonshire.
Dumfriesshire, Cleva Mountains and Pentland Hills; Nairnshire, near Auldean;
Perthshire, Blair Athol.
County Londonderry, Benyvena Mountains near Magelligan; County Antrim, Black
Mountain, near Belfast.
T h is little plant, although widely distributed over the kingdom,
can hy no means he considered abundant; hut it may be
said of this and the following species, that from their diminutive
size they frequently escape that notice which Osmunda, with
its conspicuous appearance, can hy no possibility elude.
Tlie Moonwort appears to have been found more frequently
in England than in either Wales, Scotland, or Ireland.
The roots and rhizoma of Botrychium and Ophioglossum
differ very materially from those of true ferns. The latter
appears httle more than a subterraneous portion of the rachis,
and no observation of my own tends to elucidate its characters.
Before the plant has felt the influence of spring it exists in a
quiescent state, and consists of a simple stem scarcely an inch in
length, and placed vertically in the e a rth ; it is somewhat
attenuated at the inferior extremity, and its superior extremity
has a whitish bud-hke termination, which is the embryo frond of
the coming season; I suppose it to he analogous to the rhizoma.
In Botrychium, the lower part of the rhizoma hears two distinct
whorls of thick yellowish succulent roots, and the upper portion
is encased in scale-like alternate sheaths : the specimen from
which the figure was drawn was dried and pressed, and was very
imperfect in those parts, of which, when drawing it, I was not
aware. When the young frond begins to shoot, the operation is
shewn by the elongation of the rhizoma : it rises from the
ground with a straight, erect vernation in April or May, and the
rachis and rhizoma, when the scales have been removed, appear
perfectly continuous and identical. I t would be highly interesting
to ascertain where the hud for the frond of the ensuing year has
its origin; and on this subject, I trust, erelong, to inform myself.
I can hut observe with regret, how little attention botanists pay
to precision of terms in the nomenclature of these p a rts ; it is
impossible to tell, without reading the character, and not always
then, what a botanist means hy the word “ r o o t; ” if he write
“ root creeping,” it is safe to conclude he intends to describe
the stem, or rhizoma; if he write “ root fibrous,” it is safe to
infer he means the real root; if he write “ root tufted,” we may
infer that he confuses rhizoma and root together, or that he has
no definite meaning, and probably has never seen the part.
The frond (I believe it is always a single one) makes its
appearance in April, with an erect, straight vernation, and fades
before the w in te r; it is fertile, except in seedling plants : the
usual size is somewhat larger than the specimen figured, and it
occasionally reaches the height of six inches.
The rachis is hollow, succulent, and rises from the sheath-like
scales already spoken of, thus totally differing from that of the
true ferns. I t is divided at about half its length : one branch