SafePlants

Mingan Moonwort (Botrychium minganense)

The Mingan moonwort, scientifically known as Botrychium minganense, is a small, easily overlooked fern species native to North America.

Taxonomy and Nomenclature

• Scientific Name: Botrychium minganense Victorin
• Common Name(s): Mingan moonwort, Mingan's Moonwort, Mingan Island moonwort, moonwort, Mingan grapefern
• Family: Ophioglossaceae (Adder's Tongue Family)
• Genus: Botrychium
• Rank: Species
• Synonyms: Botrychium lunaria var. minganense, B. lunaria ssp. minganense

Distribution and Habitat

• Native to North America, from Alaska and northern Canada.
• Has a widespread but scattered distribution.
• Documented in Montana, with the largest concentration occurring in the western and central parts of the state.
• Found in New England, specifically in Maine.

Morphological Characteristics

• Small fern species.
• The blade is typically less than 2.5 cm wide and often less than 10 cm tall, though the fertile branch may be taller.
• Has sterile and fertile blades arising from a common stalk that is between 3 and 11 cm long.
• The sterile blade can be sessile or stalked.
• Trophophore stalk is 0-2 cm, 0 to 1/5 length of trophophore rachis blade dull green.
• Plant length is 5-23 cm, has a fleshy blade, narrow oblong shape and a uniform width (1-2 cm).
• Forb/herb: Non-woody plant that is not a grass.

Genetic Information

• Ploidy: Tetraploid

Ecological Role

• The underground gametophyte (the separate plant that germinates from the spore and produces the egg and sperm cells) does not produce... (the sentence is incomplete in the original text).

Further Information

• Endangered Resces Program
• CalPhotos
• Ontario Ferns
• Wisconsin State Herbarium
• Discover Life
• TERMIUM (the terminological and linguistic database of the Government of Canada)
• ordabok.is