Taxonomy
Family: Ophioglossaceae
Habitat
Apparently occurs in sandy prairie and dune habitats in the Midwest. In the one location where it was found in NY it was growing on thin soil over limestone.
Associates
Distribution
Northern MI, western IA, and western MN to NE, ND, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, disjunct in NY, VT, and eastern Canada.
Morphology
Blades fleshy; sporophores usually less than 1.5 times the length of the trophophores; pinnae mostly linear; basal pinna lobes usually about equal; plants appearing in spring.
Notes
Active growth mid-May to June, often senescing with warm weather or drought
Wetland category: NA
This photo is of the only known specimen to be collected in NY in 1915, the population described as consisting of only three plants. The population is thought to have been destroyed by mining. This was the most eastern population known in North American until its discovery at a single site in Vermont.
References
Wagner, W.H, Jr. and
Wagner, F.S. 1993. Botrychium. In: Flora of North America North of
Mexico, Vol. 2. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford.
© Michael Hough 2018 |