Botrychium virginianum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rattlesnake Fern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Ophioglossophyta Class: Ophioglossopsida Order: Ophioglossales Family: Botrychiaceae Genus: Botrypus Species: B. virginianum
Binomial name
Botrypus virginianum (L.) Sw.
Synonyms
Botrychium virginianum Japanobotrychium virginianum

Botrypus virginianum, sometimes called Rattlesnake Fern, is a low ground cover fern, commonly a foot high or smaller. The plant is ternately branched and the leaves feel soft. The stem is bicolor, being pinkish or light tan at the base but greenish nearer the branches or leaves.

This is a wide-ranging species. It abounds in many parts of the United States, in the mountains of Mexico, in Australia, in some parts of Asia, as the Himalaya Mountains, and is found also in Norway, and around Gulf of Bothnia, although in no other part of Europe. It is large and succulent and is boiled and eaten in the Himalayas, in New Zealand, etc. It is called Rattlesnake Fern in some parts of North America, from its growing in places where rattlesnakes are also found.

[edit] External links

• http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=BOVI