Botrypus virginianum
English: Rattlesnake fern; Ccommon grapefern.
Genus: 1 species.
Region: cosmopolitan, North America, Mexico, Australia, Asia, Himalaya, Norway, Finland, Russia, Gulf of Bothnia.
Habitat: in rich, moist woods in dense shade and will not tolerate direct sunlight; where rattlesnakes are found.
Use: boiled and eaten in the Himalayas.
Botany
Fern; perennial; low growing, up to 30 cm tall; mitochondria are genetic chimera, DNA from some member of the Santalales, possibly a species of mistletoe, has transferred to the mitochondrial DNA.
Leaves: roughly triangularly; 15 to 50 cm long; roughly parallel to the ground; 3 to 4 times pinnately compound; brightly green; soft to the touch. emerges in the early spring and will senesce in late summer.
Stem: round; bicolor, pinkish or light tan at the base, greenish nearer the branches or leaves.
Reproduction: separate fertile at the tip, sterile leaves halfway up the stalk
Spores: shed in late spring.
Taxonomy
Botrypus has long been included in the genus Botrychium. But it is unique because of chromosome number and other signatures, including the inclusion of presumed mistletoe DNA within its mitochondria. Recent research shows Botrypus is sister to all other Botrychioid plants, including Botrychium and Sceptridium. Botrychium strictus is sister to all other Botrychioids.