MOONWORT, or Moon-fern, in
botany, the popular name of a small fern (Botrychium Lunaria), belonging
to the order Ophioglossaceae (see
Ferns). It has a tuberous root-stock and a stout fleshy glabrous frond 3 to 6 in. long, with a sterile and fertile portion; the former bears several pairs of close-set, semi-circular or moon-shaped pinnae, the latter
is pinnately branched and covered, on the face opposed to
the sterile portion, with small globose spore-cases which burst
transversely. It is a widely distributed plant in the north and
south temperate and cold zones, and is found in pastures and
grassy banks in Britain.
From Strasburger’s Lehrbuch der Botanik, by permission of Gustav Fischer. Botrychium Lunaria.
