Botrychium japonicum var. japonicum ("Ohanawarabi")

Japanese name: オオハナワラビ （大花蕨）
Scientific name: Botrychium japonicum var. japonicum

[Overview]
A wintergreen terrestrial fern found in slightly moist places in mountain forests.
The rootstock is short and upright, and produces many thick roots.
One leaf emerges from the rootstock each year.
The sterile leaf is about 10–25 cm long and 15–25 cm wide, and is divided in a ternate manner into three pinnate divisions.
The lower pinnae are triangular-broadly elliptic, 8–15 cm long and 5–8 cm wide, with a stalk 1.5–3 cm long; the lobes are narrowly elliptic, with sharp teeth or wavy margins.
The stalk of the sterile leaf is 10–20 cm.
The fertile leaf is longer than the sterile leaf and has a stalk 15–35 cm long.
The fertile leaf is twice pinnately divided and bears sporangia directly on short branches, so that the whole looks like a panicle.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by division.
It prefers partial shade and well-drained, moisture-retentive soil.
From autumn to spring, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; during dormancy, water sparingly so that the soil does not become too wet.
During the growing season, apply liquid fertilizer about once a month or place slow-release fertilizer on the soil.
There are no particular pests or diseases.

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