Botrychium lunaria(L.) Sw.

common moonwortmoonwort

WFO wfo-0001109054 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Botrychium lunaria, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. a Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-02 / obs. 202772560

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 84 botanical countries

Regions where Botrychium lunaria is native: Azores, Madeira, Morocco, Afghanistan, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Qinghai, Sakhalin, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Tuva, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, East Himalaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, New South Wales, New Zealand South, Tasmania, Victoria, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, Føroyar, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Greenland MoroccoAfghanistanAltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastChitaInner MongoliaIranIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKhabarovskKirgizstanKrasnoyarskMagadanManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeQinghaiSakhalinTadzhikistanTaiwanTibetTranscaucasusTürkiyeTuvaUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaEast HimalayaMyanmarNepalPakistanWest HimalayaNew South WalesNew Zealand SouthTasmaniaVictoriaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIcelandIrelandItalyKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSiciliaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraineGreenland AzoresMadeiraKoreaFøroyarSardegna
Native distribution of Botrychium lunaria, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Føroyar FOR
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Iceland ICE
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Khabarovsk KHA
Kirgizstan KGZ
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Sakhalin SAK
Tadzhikistan TZK
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM
New South Wales NSW AUSTRALASIA
New Zealand South NZS
Tasmania TAS
Victoria VIC
Azores AZO AFRICA
Madeira MDR
Morocco MOR
Greenland GNL NORTHERN AMERICA

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,973 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -21.4 °C -11.5 °C 0.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 11.6 °C 16.0 °C 22.9 °C
Annual rainfall 596 mm 1,277 mm 2,600 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 82 mm 211 mm 451 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,973 research-grade observations of Botrychium lunaria that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 34 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Blechnum racemosum Bub.
  • Botrychium lunaria f. alatum Thyssen
  • Botrychium lunaria f. alpinum Schur
  • Botrychium lunaria f. gracile (Schur) Asch. & Graebn.
  • Botrychium lunaria f. incisum (Milde) Vollm.
  • Botrychium lunaria f. lunaria
  • Botrychium lunaria f. subbipinnatum F.Wirtg.
  • Botrychium lunaria f. subincisum (Roep.) Milde
  • Botrychium lunaria f. tripartitum (T.Moore) Weath.
  • Botrychium lunaria subf. alternans Thyssen
  • Botrychium lunaria subf. brevipes F.Wirtg.
  • Botrychium lunaria subf. caudatum F.Wirtg. ex Thyssen
  • Botrychium lunaria subf. imbricatum F.Wirtg.
  • Botrychium lunaria subf. longifolium F.Wirtg.
  • Botrychium lunaria subf. longipes F.Wirtg.
  • Botrychium lunaria subf. petiolatum F.Wirtg.
  • Botrychium lunaria subf. platyphyllum Thyssen
  • Botrychium lunaria subf. remotum F.Wirtg.
  • Botrychium lunaria subsp. alpinum (Krylov) Shmakov
  • Botrychium lunaria subsp. subincisum (Roeper) Seeland
  • Botrychium lunaria unranked incisum (Milde) Seeland
  • Botrychium lunaria var. lunaria
  • Botrychium lunaria var. polyphyllum Wallr.
  • Botrychium lunaria var. przevalskii Tzvelev

and 10 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.