Tuesday, December 16, 2014

What is a “Moonwort”?


28 October 2014

The Short Answer (TSA)

            It’s a plant.  The formal name is Botrychium lunaria.  But, I guess. to its friends, it’s known as the Moonwort.  As plants go, the Moonwort seems the very definition of hidden.  These plants are rare.  Or, maybe not.  What I mean to say is that even if you are standing right over one of these plants, you would likely not be able to find it.

            But how did it get the name “Moonwort”?  Well, whoever discovered it, many centuries ago, thought its leaves looked like half moons. I sort of see it . . . in a way.

Moon-Shaped Leaves?

            The Moonwort, when it rises above the ground, has two stems and looks like two different plants.  One stem has the “moon shaped” leaves and round pods full of spores.  (It’s a fern, so they’re “spores” instead of “seeds.”)  The other stem is the plain leafy part of the plant with leaves shaped . . . like leaves.  Or, at least, there’s nothing even remotely moon-like about the shape of the leaves on the other stem.

Moonwort

            Most ferns like moisture, but the Moonwort grow in relatively dry areas with alkaline (chalky) soils.  Sand dunes, inland cliffs, and well drained meadows are its favorite homes in parts of the U.K.  In the U.S., the Moonwort is found (when it can be found) in prairie, forest and mountain areas.  The Moonwort doesn’t like deserts, but it doesn’t like damp areas either – like most of its fellow ferns.

           Sometimes, the Moonwart will grow to up to 3 inches above the ground. Then, you can see one. This particular plant doesn’t like growing in laboratories or in any other kind of domesticated conditions, so it’s difficult to study. Your chances of just happening upon a Moonwort, when it’s growing above the ground, are not so good.
            When it’s growing above the ground?

            Yes, that’s what you read. What’s really just plain weird about the Moonwort is that it can grow completely below the ground for up to 10 years at a time. Again, you read correctly. The Moonwort can grow completely below the ground (no sunlight) for, sometimes, as long as 10 years at a time.

            How does the Moonwort manage this sun-less life style?

            This really unusual plant is sunlight optional. It can grow above the ground and produce its nourishment with sunlight (photosynthesis). Or it can stay below the ground and get its food from another plant, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, know by the more manageable name, “AM fungi.”

            The AM fungi produce a carbon by-product on which the Moonwort feeds. The moonwort doesn’t even need its own kind to reproduce. When it grows entirely under the ground, it gives up making spores. New young Moonwort plants just bud and grow from the “mother” plant’s root (and, when it’s below ground, the Moonwort is all root).

            The Moonwort seems to be hiding. Ironically, this may be what attracted attention to it several centuries ago. This small fern actually had quite a reputation in some circles. I can only guess that its weird existence and, apparent, love of privacy, drew the very attention it was trying to avoid. And, possibly, that’s why this fern got a reputation for mysterious and magical qualities.

            A few centuries ago, this small hidden fern enjoyed a reputation as an ingredient used by the old alchemists. The Moonwort was supposed to be part of a chemical concoction that could turn lead into gold. Of course, the trick was to mix-up the potion just right. As there are no records of any of these same alchemists dying rich, I might say that, just maybe, the Moonwort’s gold-making reputation was . . . exaggerated.

Mark Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri & Belleville, Illinois

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