Botrypus Michx., Fl. Bor.

Kessler, Michael & Smith, Alan R., 2017, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. V. Ophioglossaceae, Phytotaxa 327 (1), pp. 90-94 : 91

Botrypus Michx., Fl. Bor. - Amer. 2: 274. 1803.

Botrypus is a member of the Botrychium clade that is characterized by the leaf divided into a spreading, dissected, green blade with free veins and a single, erect, non-green, panicle-like, spore-bearing spike. Botrypus itself can be recognized by the fertile spike short-stalked, borne at the top of the petiole near the base of the sterile pinnae. Anemia has similar erect fertile spikes at the base of the green pinnae, but has usually two spikes per leaf and the sporangia are ovoid or pear-shaped with a subapical annulus, not globular and lacking an annulus, as in Botrypus . Species of the Botrychium clade are often overlooked because they only periodically form leaves above ground (usually only one leaf per year) and because they are often hidden in dense grassy or bushy vegetation. A monotypic genus widely distributed throughout America, Europe and Asia.

Recent studies have uncovered substantial cryptic diversity among the northern hemisphere members of Botrychium , often combined with hybridization and polyploidy ( Wagner & Wagner 1983, Wagner et al. 1984b, Hauk 1995, Hauk & Haufler 1999, Hauk et al. 2012, Dauphin et al. 2014). Furthermore, many species populations are geographically isolated from each other; this often results in high levels of intragametophytic selfing and vegetative reproduction, leading to marked geographical genetic variation within species that is also reflected in morphological variation ( Soltis & Soltis 1986, Farrar & Johnson-Groh 1990, Watano & Sahashi 1992, Camacho & Liston 2001).