Botrychium simplex E. Hitchcock (little grapefern) - Colorado Natural ...

Figure 1. The first illustration of Botrychium simplex (from Hitchcock 1823).
of B. tenebrosum. Clute (1901) demoted this taxon to
varietal status under B. matricariifolium. Clausen (1938)
recognized the similarity of this taxon to B. simplex and
included tenebrosum as a variety of B. simplex. Other
varieties that have been described for B. simplex include
var. cordatum (Wherry 1937), var. compositum and var.
typicum (Clausen 1938), and var. laxifolium (Clausen
1938, Fernald 1949). The plants from Colorado and
Wyoming observed by Clausen 1938 were placed in var.
typicum (including unnamed specimens from Gilpin
and El Paso counties, where the former is probably the
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1919 collection of Hazel Schmoll) and var. compositum
(I.M. Johnson #2415 on Pikes Peak, Colorado and C.C.
Parry #306 from Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming). Plants
not falling into one of the other varieties are referred to
as var. simplex.
The varieties of Botrychium simplex are often
morphologically distinct. During the second half of
the 20 th century, Drs. Herb and Florence Wagner began
to question the taxonomic validity of these varieties.
Wagner and Wagner (1983) noted that “low, dark,