FLORA OF ICELAND elements: Botrychium lunaria, Common Moonwort, Tungljurt

Botrychium lunaria; The Common Moonwort is common all over Iceland, even in highland regions. It can be found in heatherlands and grasslands.
  It is a strange plant. It seems to have 2 leaves, a fertile one with sporangia and a vegetative one with leaflets. But not so: both are 2 segments of one leaf. The "bud" is below the ground produces just one leaf a season, the main nerve splitting in two along which leaflets are formed on the one and sporangia on the other. Under the ground, in the base (sheath) of the leaf, lies folded next years leaf. Before winter the leaf withers and the bud with the leaf sheath survives under ground. Strangely the plant can sometimes go for years "in hiding" without producing leaves. They are than "fed" by soil fungi. Actually the plant is even more dependent on soil fungi: the gametophyte stage of the plant also live entirely without chlorophyll underground for years before forming gametes (egg/sperm cells) and subsequential the sporophyte. The gametophyte is "fed" by fungi during this period. The plant does not have long rootstocks. So in an area with many Common Moonworts one can be sure that each leaf-combination represents an individual.
  The Icelandic name is Tungljurt. It is member of the Ophioglossaceae (Adder's-tongue family).

A brief introduction to Iceland plants
Text & Photographs by Dick Vuijk
- unless stated otherwise
Other fern-related species

Other fern-related species

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Natural History of Iceland Site  in Dutch

Natural History of Iceland Site  Dutch