Sterile part short-stalked above the middle of the stem.
Matricary Fern.
Sterile part stalked usually below middle of stem.
Little Grape Fern.
Sterile part sessile near the top of the stem.
Lance-leaved Grape Fern.



GRAPE FERNS

_Botrýchium_

Rootstock very short, erect with clustered fleshy roots; the base of the
sheathed stalk containing the bud for the next year's frond. Fertile frond
one to three pinnate, the contracted divisions bearing a double row of
sessile, naked, globular sporangia, opening transversely into two valves.
Sterile segment of the frond ternately or pinnately divided or compound.
Veins free. Spores copious, sulphur yellow. (The name in Greek means a
cluster of grapes, alluding to the grape-like clusters of the sporangia.)

(1) MOONWORT. _Botrýchium Lunària_

Very fleshy, three to ten inches high, sterile segment subsessile, borne
near the middle of the plant, oblong, simple pinnate with three to eight
pairs of lunate or fan-shaped divisions, obtusely crenate, the veins
repeatedly forking; fertile segment panicled, two to three pinnate.

[Illustration: Moonwort _Botrychium Lunaria_]