A Wonderful Season for Fern Lovers!

Update on Taxonomy

Randy suggested I use the updated taxonomy for the Moonworts and I agree. There are a lot of differences in how they are classified, but we will go with Chadde's Northeast Ferns. This update also gives me a chance to use another Moonwort photo!

The Grape Ferns (genus Sceptridium), Rattlesnake Ferns (Botrypus), Moonworts (Botrichium) and Adder's Tongue (Ophioglossum) are all in the Ophioglossaceae (Adder's Tongue) family, but have been separated into different genera (in parentheses). I hope one day to see an Adder's Tongue! The rest of the family are so beautiful and interesting.

The photo today shows a Lance-leaf Moonwort (Botrychium lanceolatum) as named in Chadde, who states that only the variety angustisegmentum is in our area. The angustisegmentum is called Narrow Triangle Moonwort in GoBotany. It gets even more confusing between different sources, so I will stop there! The identifying feature of this Moonwort is the triangular shaped leaf which comes out at an angle high up on the stem. As you can see from the photo, they are very small right now and easily missed (or stepped on).

Happy Ferning!