Is This Botrychium dissectum?

This fern has appeared in a shady, often dry, north-facing border, under the overhang of our mountain cottage for twenty years. It appears in July or August, always has one leaf and then a spike that is laden with dusty spores. I've not found another on our 17 acres of mostly woods and never seen it elsewhere. It disappears in winter. Would love to propagate it, but I'm afraid I'll damage this single specimen. Thanks for advice in advance.
Laurel

Certainly looks like a Botrychium, not sure which species.

Sorry, deliberate propagation and cultivation is virtually impossible - just protect the one you have, and hope it reproduces itself.

Resin

Looks more like Botrychium obliquum or Botrychium neglectum.

Thank you. I was thinking this fern might be unique. I poured over Plant Files and found the closest match. Don't mind groping around on my own, but if you have some good links please share. BTW, did I use the wrong terminology? Is it pollen coming off that spire? I peeked under the single leaf and only saw what might be a spore or two. Are the spores on the leaf and pollen on the spire? I obviously don't know much about ferns.
Laurel

Spores on the fertile frond - ferns don't produce pollen.

Resin

Is the fertile frond what I'm calling the "spire"? Where do those spores go? There's not another in the vicinity. It's not neglectum, the leaf shape is def. dissectum. Can I feed it something next year to increase its potential to procreate?

Yes!

A long, long way in the wind. Spores are microscopically small, smaller than most dust particles. They need highly specialised conditions to germinate; as far as I'm aware, the exact conditions needed aren't known yet (which is why they are currently impossible to propagate).

No - that would risk it getting swamped by more vigorous flowering plants that are better adapted to high fertility soils. I'd leave well alone, or at the most, increase light slightly by pruning away some (but not all) plants shading it.

Resin

The fronds of Botrychium species are sterile. The "spire" is a fertile spike, which holds the sporangia, that contain the spores.

Thanks for the responses.

Hi Laurel! Can you show more photos of your fern? Especially with the sporangia being mature!

All species of Botrychium are rare and many are endangered.

For the fern to occur in your area, means that the area is in pristine condition. As Resin suggested, leaving it that way would be best.

If you can show more photos of the fern, we may be able to align a species to it.

Aloha, Dave

Dave, didn't think this was a run-of-the-mill fern but thought its inability to expand was because of poor growing conditions. That it grows right under my nose (a bedroom window) is remarkable considering it could have chosen seventeen other more pristine acres. :) Well, we have a quarter acre kitchen garden, fruits and wild forage (ramps, scuppernogs wild huckleberries, etc.) on descending mountain steps, a modest A-frame cottage and a half acre pond. The rest is forested in hickory, white and red oak, a bit of pine and dogwood understory. We occupy an old, Appalachian mountainside. So in re: the pristine condition, the hardwoods were harvested eighty five years ago. Re-forestation would be from then. We had a good deal of ginseng and isolated beds of pink cypripedium acule until ten years ago, but they have been poached.

I'm currently in Miami and can't provide new photos at the moment. I'll look over what I have from that day and post if anything is worthwhile. I'll re-photo it when I'm there again in a few weeks. It may look much different as temps drop. I was taken by the dust cloud that came from that tiny spike and that I'd never seen a potential companion. Thanks to you and Resin for your responses and interest.
Laurel

I'm reviving this thread because my Botrychium somethingorother is here once again. The exciting news is that several conservationists, including the head of the native orchid preservation and breeding program with the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, are visiting my property in the N. GA mountains tomorrow. We have wild orchids, which is the purpose of their visit. We'd like to become a part of a stewardship program if the property is appropriate. I'm hoping we can obtain an accurate ID on this Botrychium and will try for some new photos. Since they have a flasking lab at the botanical garden maybe they would be interested in propagating it.
Laurel

Laurel...
I'm lurking here, waiting for an update of their visit...
Jill

Hi Jill,
I was so sure to find the answer to this but it seems a bog expert and a native orchid expert do not a fern expert make. lol I even tried to help them along by making it a multiple choice test (see photo). As you can see it's doing its thing right now. Though still nameless, they did find several more Botrychiums growing together about a quarter mile away and in the woods, still on my property. They were actually hunting monkey face orchids, quite rare, that would be in bloom now. They are found in association with two other orchids, which are growing here, but no monkey face orchids were found. We had a wonderful time and learned a lot. Maybe one of the fern experts here will drop by one of these days.
Laurel

Okay, I asked the photographer in the house to help out with the long overdue request for better photos. Does this help with ID?

Here is one of the non-fertile frond. It grows among native Turk's Cap Lilies so I can't do any clearing around it because of the lily bulbs.