Sceptridium is a genus of seedlessvascular plants in the familyOphioglossaceae,[1] closely allied to (and often included as a subgenus[2] of) the genusBotrychium (themoonworts and grapeferns). It is also closely related to the genusBotrypus (the rattlesnake fern, often treated as the subgenusOsmundopteris underBotrychium).Sceptridium species are commonly called thegrape-ferns.
These plants are small with fleshyroots, and reproduce byspores shed into the air. They differ from the moonworts in having at least some sterilefronds (all fronds inBotrychium are spore-bearing), and in the fronds being bi- or tri-pinnate (Botrychium are single pinnate, or rarely bipinnate); and fromBotrypus in beingevergreen, or at least winter-green (Botrypus aredeciduous) and having the non-spore-bearing part of the frond long-stalked (short-stalked inBotrypus).
^B. biternatum Flora of North America, www.eFloras.org 26 Dec 2011
^Montgomery, James D. (1990). "Survivorship and Predation Changes in Five Populations of Botrychium dissectum in Eastern Pennsylvania".American Fern Journal. 4.80 (4):173–182.doi:10.2307/1547206.JSTOR1547206.
^B. dissectum Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 26 Dec 2011
^B. dissectum Flora of North America, www.eFloras.org 26 Dec 2011
^B. obliquum Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 16 Jan 2012
