Fern, Cut-Leaved Grape
Botrychium dissectum
A small fern with very different fertile and sterile leaves. The main stem divides into fertile and sterile leaf-stalks near ground level (or even below ground). The thrice-cut sterile leaf is triangular with 3 main parts, further divided into leaflets and sub-leaflets. The plane of the leaf is usually roughly parallel to the ground. The fertile leaf stalk has several, more or less alternate ascending leaflets that bear short spikes of spore cases. Found in woods, fields, roadsides. Rattlesnake grape fern (B virginianum) is similar but is larger, and the fertile and sterile leaf-stalks arise well above ground level.