Images
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Morphology
- Culm
- Stems upright from fleshy roots
- Leaves
- Blades pale green, 3 to 4 times pinnately compound, 10-13+ inches long; pinnae to 12 pairs, slightly ascending, lanceolate; pinnules sessile, lanceolate, to 8 inches long and 12 inches broad, deeply lobed, lobes linear, dissected or toothed, midrib present, tip acute; fertile spike up to 8 inches long, arising from base of vegetative leaf blade (from common petiole); sporangia round, 1/50 to 1/25 inch diameter; spores yellowish, shedding May-July.
Ecology
- Habitat
- Dry or moist woods
- Distribution
- East 2/5 of Kansas
- Reproduction
- Ferns reproduce by spores rather than true flowers.
Additional Notes
Comments
Rattlesnake fern is the most widespread Botrychium in North America. New leaves develop in the spring and wither by late summer. From Latin botry, bunch of grapes and oides resembling, alluding to the sporangial clusters.
Quick Facts
- Plant Type
- Sedge
- Family
- Ophioglossaceae - Adder's Tongue Family
- Life Span
- Perennial
- Height
- To 20+ inches
- Origin
- Native
- Last Updated
- 2016-05-03