Botrychium neolunaria. Synonym: Botrychium lunaria. (New Moon Moonwort)
Ophioglossaceae (Adder's Tongue Family)

Montane, subalpine, alpine. Meadows, disturbed areas. Summer, fall.
Road to Sharkstooth Trail, August 24, 2011.

This B. neolunaria has a trophophore just one inch tall and a sporophore nearly 2 inches tall.  Typically the trophophore would be as much as 4 inches tall with a sporophore about twice the height of the trophophore.

Notice that the bottom pinnae (more clearly shown in the next photograph) are much larger than the pinnae above.  Both are fan-shaped.

This species was previously described throughout the northern hemisphere under the name of B. lunaria, which is now considered to be a Canadian and Eurasian species genetically distinct from our B. neolunaria.  This new species description apparently was published in 2015.  Research determining the distinction between the two species was done by Mary Stensvold for her PhD under Don Farrar at Iowa State University in 2008.  Click to read her dissertation. Mary summarizes B. neolunaria as follows:

As with all members of the complex..., [B. neolunaria] is morphologically variable. Compared with other ferns in the complex it tends to have narrow trophophores; pinnae that are approximate to somewhat overlapping, and generally not overlapping the rachis; basal pinnae that span an arc of less than 180 degrees; basiscopic margins of the basal pinnae that are linear to moderately concave....

See B. minganense to read about how similar it is to B. neolunaria.

Click for Don Farrar's page on B. lunaria, the plant we will soon be calling B. neolunaria. Especially note page 2, paragraph 2 of "Taxonomy".

Botrychium neolunaria. Synonym: Botrychium lunaria. (New Moon Moonwort)
Ophioglossaceae (Adder's Tongue Family)

Montane, subalpine, alpine. Meadows, disturbed areas. Summer, fall.
Road to Sharkstooth Trail, August 24, 2011.

The plant shown on this page is a county record for Montezuma County, Colorado.

Botrychium tunux (Moosewort)
Ophioglossaceae (Adder's Tongue Family)

Subalpine, alpine. Meadows, tundra. Summer, fall.
Colorado Trail near Stony Pass, July 26, 2017.

As the map below indicates, Botrychium tunux is rare and known from just a few locations in Colorado, one in New Mexico, and none in Arizona or Utah. The plants pictured here are the first found in San Juan County, Colorado, and the only ones known in the Four Corners region covered by this web site. These Botrychium were found at 12,600 feet, probably higher than any Botrychium ever found in Colorado.

According to Botrychium expert Donald Farrar, "Botrychium tunux was described in 2002 by Stensvold, Farrar, and Johnson=Groh, based on plants from coastal Alaska. In its type locality B. tunux grows with B. neolunaria and had previously been considered to be that species".

Farrar also indicates, "Botrychium tunux, B. neolunaria, B. lunaria var. lunaria, B. lunaria var. crenulatum and B. yaaxudakeit are the only Moonwort species in which the span of the outer margin of the basal pinnae equals or exceeds 150˚, i.e., a half-moon shape. B. tunux can be differentiated from similar species by the asymmetry of its basal pinnae that are often enlarged or elongated in the lower half, and by the more rounded shape of its middle and upper pinnae. B. tunux further differs from these taxa in having a sporophore stalk that is shorter than the length of the trophophore."

"Tunux" was, according to William Weber, a Yakutat Tlingit warrior.

Click for Don Farrar's page giving complete details about Botrychium tunux.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Botrychium neolunaria formerly B. lunaria

Range map for Botrychium tunux