moonwort

On the other side of the railway, through Botrychium Bridge named after the moonwort that grew on the bank near by and Second Bog Outflow, was the mysterious Great Bog, where the snipe lay so close they could go off like landmines from under your boot.

Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009

On the other side of the railway, through Botrychium Bridge named after the moonwort that grew on the bank near by and Second Bog Outflow, was the mysterious Great Bog, where the snipe lay so close they could go off like landmines from under your boot.

Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009

The moonwort was formerly associated with many superstitions and was reputed to open all locks at a mere touch, and to unshoe all horses that trod upon it.

The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada George Henry Tilton

Culpeper, the herbalist, to illustrate the powers of the plant moonwort, tells of a wonderful incident that occurred to Lord Essex's horse, presumably when his army was here in 1644.

Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts Rosalind Northcote

The moonwort is supposed to be a very supernatural plant, and to have the power of opening locks if you place a leaf of it in the keyhole.

Monitress Merle Angela Brazil 1907

_Osmunda regalis, _ the Royal fern of Europe, and the European moonwort and alder's-tongue ferns.

The Heart of Nature or, The Quest for Natural Beauty Francis Edward Younghusband 1902

In crossing the last grass, we found the earliest vanilla orchis (_Orchis nigra_) of the year, and came upon beds of moonwort (_Botrychium Lunaria_) of so unusual a size that our progress ceased till such time as the finest specimens were secured.

Ice-Caves of France and Switzerland 1881

But it was only a big bunch of moonwort on a stained-glass-window sill, and the wind was blowing through a vacancy that should have been

Somehow Good William Frend De Morgan 1878

In the flagstones of Orkney there occurs, though very rarely, a minute vegetable organism, which I have elsewhere described as having much the appearance of one of our smaller ferns, such as the maidenhair-spleenwort, or dwarf moonwort.

The Testimony of the Rocks or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed Hugh Miller 1829

But among the prized prairie plants - ten-petaled blazing star, prairie moonwort and cowboy's delight - it survives like a relic of a different time.

Photos - DesMoinesRegister.com 2010