Botrychium hesperium

Western moonwort

Family: Ophioglossaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Western moonwort is a California native perennial found in wet meadows at elevations up to 3,200 meters. Growing with a distinctive fern-like structure, this plant has a trophophore blade 2 to 5 centimeters long and 2 to 3 centimeters wide, with 3 to 6 pairs of ovate to elliptic pinnae. Its fronds emerge with a dull yellowish-green color, featuring pinnae that ascend with broadly attached margins and converge at approximately 120-degree angles. The plant's common stalk is roughly equal in length to its trophophore, with a sporophore stalk measuring about half to two-thirds of the trophophore's length. Its fertile portion is ovate to triangular, bearing evenly spaced sporangia across its ascending pinnae.

Habitat: Wet meadows

Elevation: 3200 m

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.