Botrychium ternatum var. ternatum ("Fuyunohanawarabi")

Japanese name: フユノハナワラビ （冬花蕨）
Scientific name: Botrychium ternatum var. ternatum

[Overview]
A wintergreen terrestrial fern found in hills and fields.
The rootstock is short and upright.
One leaf emerges from the rootstock each year.
The sterile leaf is about 5–10 cm long and 8–12 cm wide, divided in a ternate manner into three to four pinnate divisions, and is somewhat thick.
The pinnae are almost triangular, the lower ones having long stalks; the lobes are broadly elliptic to broadly ovate with blunt teeth on the margins.
The stalk of the sterile leaf is 3–8 cm.
The leaves take on a reddish tinge in winter.
The fertile leaf is far longer than the sterile leaf and has a stalk 12–25 cm long.
The fertile leaf is two to three times pinnately divided and bears sporangia directly on short branches, so that the whole looks like a panicle.
The fertile leaf withers after releasing its spores.

[Uses]
The whole plant is used medicinally.

[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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